Essex Financial Services Inc. Has $425,000 Position in Corteva, Inc. (NYSE:CTVA)

Essex Financial Services Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Corteva, Inc. (NYSE:CTVA - Free Report) by 36.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,750 shares of the company's stock after selling 3,927 shares during the quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc.'s holdings in Corteva were worth $425,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Flagship Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Corteva in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Pinney & Scofield Inc. purchased a new position in Corteva in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. LGT Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Corteva in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp acquired a new stake in Corteva during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, CoreFirst Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in Corteva during the 4th quarter worth approximately $50,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.54% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on CTVA. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $75.00 price target (up previously from $72.00) on shares of Corteva in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Barclays increased their target price on Corteva from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Corteva from $74.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Corteva from $65.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Corteva from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Corteva presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $72.08.

Corteva Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CTVA traded up $0.24 on Friday, hitting $77.24. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,419,340 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,398,787. The company has a market capitalization of $52.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.44. Corteva, Inc. has a 12 month low of $50.30 and a 12 month high of $77.41. The stock's 50-day moving average is $69.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is $63.82.

Corteva (NYSE:CTVA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.25. Corteva had a net margin of 6.77% and a return on equity of 7.84%. The business had revenue of $4.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.56 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.89 earnings per share. The business's revenue was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Corteva, Inc. will post 2.96 EPS for the current year.

Corteva Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.88%. Corteva's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.46%.

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.