Saturna Capital Corp Trims Stake in Corteva, Inc. (NYSE:CTVA)

Saturna Capital Corp lessened its holdings in shares of Corteva, Inc. (NYSE:CTVA) by 2.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 31,286 shares of the company’s stock after selling 950 shares during the quarter. Saturna Capital Corp’s holdings in Corteva were worth $1,782,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Noble Wealth Management PBC purchased a new position in Corteva during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Corteva in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Corteva during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Corteva during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, First Financial Corp IN bought a new position in shares of Corteva during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Institutional investors own 81.54% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on CTVA. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Corteva from $69.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Corteva from $67.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Corteva from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. BNP Paribas raised Corteva to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Corteva from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $67.79.

Corteva Stock Performance

NYSE:CTVA opened at $59.98 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $41.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.50, a PEG ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.79. Corteva, Inc. has a 1 year low of $50.01 and a 1 year high of $66.24. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $61.79 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $59.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 0.93.

Corteva (NYSE:CTVA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.34 by ($0.02). Corteva had a return on equity of 7.19% and a net margin of 5.36%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Corteva, Inc. will post 2.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Corteva Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. Corteva’s payout ratio is 52.71%.

Corteva announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, November 19th that permits the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy up to 7.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Brian Titus sold 26,560 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.74, for a total value of $1,692,934.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 11,347 shares in the company, valued at $723,257.78. This trade represents a 70.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Corteva Company Profile

Corteva, Inc operates in the agriculture business. It operates through two segments, Seed and Crop Protection. The Seed segment develops and supplies advanced germplasm and traits that produce optimum yield for farms. It offers trait technologies that enhance resistance to weather, disease, insects, and herbicides used to control weeds, as well as food and nutritional characteristics.