FORA Capital LLC Purchases New Shares in Corteva, Inc. $CTVA

Key Points

• FORA Capital LLC has acquired a $2.97 million position in Corteva, Inc., purchasing 47,216 shares, reflecting growing institutional interest in the company.
• Corteva reported strong earnings with an EPS of $2.20, surpassing analyst estimates, and posted a revenue increase of 5.6% year-over-year.
• The company has announced an increase in its quarterly dividend to $0.18 per share, representing a yield of 1.0%, showing a commitment to returning value to shareholders.

FORA Capital LLC purchased a new position in Corteva, Inc. (NYSE:CTVA - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 47,216 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,971,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Corteva by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 79,814,646 shares of the company's stock worth $5,022,736,000 after acquiring an additional 639,799 shares during the period. Independent Franchise Partners LLP boosted its holdings in Corteva by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 16,785,300 shares of the company's stock worth $1,056,299,000 after acquiring an additional 288,792 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Corteva by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 11,759,755 shares of the company's stock worth $740,041,000 after acquiring an additional 110,865 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Corteva in the 1st quarter worth approximately $640,333,000. Finally, WCM Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Corteva by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 6,978,187 shares of the company's stock worth $426,088,000 after acquiring an additional 98,770 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.54% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on CTVA. UBS Group increased their target price on Corteva from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. KeyCorp increased their target price on Corteva from $84.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Corteva from $74.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $83.00 target price (up from $82.00) on shares of Corteva in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Oppenheimer set a $87.00 target price on Corteva and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $80.25.

Corteva Stock Performance

NYSE CTVA traded down $0.11 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $74.22. The company had a trading volume of 4,034,989 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,303,558. Corteva, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $53.40 and a fifty-two week high of $77.41. 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $73.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $67.48. The firm has a market cap of $50.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.75.

Corteva (NYSE:CTVA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $2.20 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.89 by $0.31. The company had revenue of $6.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.83 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Corteva, Inc. will post 2.96 EPS for the current year.

Corteva Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors 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 yield of 1.0%. Corteva's dividend payout ratio is presently 35.12%.

Corteva 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.