Harris Associates L P Trims Position in Corteva, Inc. $CTVA

Key Points

• Harris Associates L P reduced its shares in Corteva, Inc. by 7.0%, selling 976,935 shares and now holding roughly 1.4% of the company, valued at about $815 million.
• Corteva recently reported a quarterly EPS of $2.20, exceeding estimates, with a revenue increase of 5.6% year-over-year amounting to $6.46 billion.
• The company declared an increase in its quarterly dividend to $0.18 per share, with a dividend yield of 1.0% and a payout ratio of 33.17%.

Harris Associates L P trimmed its position in Corteva, Inc. (NYSE:CTVA - Free Report) by 7.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,951,695 shares of the company's stock after selling 976,935 shares during the period. Corteva accounts for 1.4% of Harris Associates L P's portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Harris Associates L P owned approximately 1.90% of Corteva worth $815,050,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. One Wealth Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Corteva by 3.4% in the first quarter. One Wealth Capital Management LLC now owns 4,835 shares of the company's stock worth $304,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the period. MAI Capital Management grew its stake in Corteva by 5.7% in the first quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 14,660 shares of the company's stock worth $923,000 after purchasing an additional 794 shares during the period. Hayek Kallen Investment Management purchased a new stake in Corteva in the first quarter worth $215,000. Baird Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Corteva by 0.3% in the first quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 200,389 shares of the company's stock worth $12,610,000 after purchasing an additional 659 shares during the period. Finally, Vident Advisory LLC grew its stake in Corteva by 55.3% in the first quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 34,077 shares of the company's stock worth $2,145,000 after purchasing an additional 12,137 shares during the period. 81.54% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CTVA has been the topic of several recent research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Corteva in a research note on Monday, August 11th. UBS Group upped their price target on Corteva from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Wall Street Zen raised Corteva from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Corteva from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Corteva from $74.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $80.25.

Corteva Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CTVA traded down $0.41 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $72.24. 3,173,079 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,770,626. The company has a market cap of $49.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.68. Corteva, Inc. has a one year low of $53.40 and a one year high of $77.41. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $73.34 and a 200 day moving average of $67.77.

Corteva (NYSE:CTVA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $2.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.31. The firm had revenue of $6.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.26 billion. Corteva had a return on equity of 8.68% and a net margin of 8.16%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.83 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Corteva, Inc. will post 2.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Corteva Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 2nd. This is an increase from Corteva's previous quarterly dividend of $0.17. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Corteva's dividend payout ratio is currently 35.12%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Robert D. King sold 37,280 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.20, for a total transaction of $2,766,176.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 49,262 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,655,240.40. This represents a 43.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by 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.