Corteva (NYSE:CTVA) Stock Price Down 6.5% - Should You Sell?

Key Points

• Corteva's stock price declined by 6.5% during trading, closing at $63.24 after hitting a low of $62.94, with trading volume down 74% from the average session.
• Analysts maintain a generally positive outlook with an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a price target of $82.00, despite the recent stock dip.
• The company recently raised its quarterly dividend from $0.17 to $0.18 per share, reflecting solid financial performance with a reported EPS of $2.20 for the last quarter, beating estimates by $0.31.

Shares of Corteva, Inc. (NYSE:CTVA - Get Free Report) fell 6.5% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $62.94 and last traded at $63.24. 1,022,860 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 74% from the average session volume of 3,903,117 shares. The stock had previously closed at $67.63.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CTVA has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. KeyCorp increased their target price on Corteva from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Zacks Research raised Corteva to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Corteva in a report on Monday, August 11th. Barclays raised shares of Corteva from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $75.00 to $84.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer set a $87.00 target price on shares of Corteva and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Corteva currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $82.00.

Corteva Trading Down 8.2%

The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a fifty day moving average of $71.89 and a two-hundred day moving average of $68.88.

Corteva (NYSE:CTVA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $2.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.31. The business had revenue of $6.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.26 billion. Corteva had a net margin of 8.16% and a return on equity of 8.68%. The business's revenue was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.83 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Corteva, Inc. will post 2.96 EPS for the current year.

Corteva Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. This is a boost from Corteva's previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 2nd. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Corteva's dividend payout ratio is currently 35.12%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Robert D. King sold 37,280 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.20, for a total value of $2,766,176.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 49,262 shares in the company, valued at $3,655,240.40. This trade represents a 43.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.15% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Corteva

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CTVA. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Corteva in the first quarter valued at $640,333,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Corteva in the 2nd quarter valued at about $434,220,000. WCM Investment Management LLC raised its position in Corteva by 29.6% during the second quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 9,044,706 shares of the company's stock worth $672,836,000 after acquiring an additional 2,066,519 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Corteva by 4,769.2% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,924,419 shares of the company's stock valued at $143,427,000 after purchasing an additional 1,884,897 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of Corteva by 54.6% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,009,038 shares of the company's stock valued at $315,219,000 after purchasing an additional 1,769,355 shares during the last quarter. 81.54% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Corteva

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.

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