Corteva, Inc. (NYSE:CTVA) Shares Bought by Barings LLC

Key Points

• Barings LLC increased its stake in Corteva, Inc. by 37% to own 149,466 shares valued at approximately $9.4 million as of the end of the most recent quarter.
• Several analysts have upgraded their price targets for Corteva, with Barclays setting a new target of $75 and UBS Group raising theirs to $90, indicating a positive sentiment towards the stock.
• Corteva announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.18, up from $0.17, representing a yield of 1.0% with a payout ratio of 41.46%.

Barings LLC lifted its holdings in Corteva, Inc. (NYSE:CTVA - Free Report) by 37.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 149,466 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 40,343 shares during the quarter. Barings LLC's holdings in Corteva were worth $9,406,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in shares of Corteva by 307.2% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 15,588 shares of the company's stock valued at $888,000 after purchasing an additional 11,760 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Corteva by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 131,538 shares of the company's stock valued at $7,492,000 after acquiring an additional 6,040 shares in the last quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC grew its stake in shares of Corteva by 23.6% in the fourth quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 23,575 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,343,000 after acquiring an additional 4,498 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Corteva by 18.9% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 26,073 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,490,000 after acquiring an additional 4,137 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Summit Financial LLC grew its stake in shares of Corteva by 52.5% in the fourth quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 8,208 shares of the company's stock valued at $468,000 after acquiring an additional 2,824 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.54% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CTVA has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Corteva from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 7th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Corteva from $76.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Corteva from $74.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Corteva from $79.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Corteva from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $79.25.

Corteva Stock Performance

Shares of CTVA stock traded down $0.99 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $71.14. 4,770,918 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,786,311. Corteva, Inc. has a 12-month low of $50.30 and a 12-month high of $77.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The company has a market cap of $48.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.75. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $73.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $66.26.

Corteva (NYSE:CTVA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.25. Corteva had a return on equity of 7.84% and a net margin of 6.77%. The company had revenue of $4.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.89 EPS. The firm's revenue was down 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Corteva, Inc. will post 2.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Corteva Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be given a $0.18 dividend. This is a boost from Corteva's previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 2nd. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. Corteva's dividend payout ratio is currently 43.90%.

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.