Rafferty Asset Management LLC Sells 12,381 Shares of Corteva, Inc. $CTVA

Key Points

• Rafferty Asset Management LLC reduced its stake in Corteva, Inc. by 20.8%, selling 12,381 shares and bringing its total ownership to 47,273 shares valued at approximately $2.975 million.
• Analysts have given Corteva a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy", with an average price target of $80.25, reflecting positive sentiments in the market.
• Corteva recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.18 per share, an increase from the previous $0.17, resulting in an annualized yield of 1.0%.

Rafferty Asset Management LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Corteva, Inc. (NYSE:CTVA - Free Report) by 20.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 47,273 shares of the company's stock after selling 12,381 shares during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC's holdings in Corteva were worth $2,975,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on CTVA. Zacks Research raised shares of Corteva to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Corteva in a report on Friday, June 6th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Corteva from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $83.00 price objective (up previously from $82.00) on shares of Corteva in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Oppenheimer set a $87.00 price objective on Corteva and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $80.25.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Robert D. King sold 37,280 shares of the business'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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 49,262 shares in the company, valued at $3,655,240.40. The trade was a 43.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.15% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Corteva Price Performance

Shares of CTVA stock traded up $0.31 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $72.70. The stock had a trading volume of 338,891 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,784,700. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $49.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.45, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.78. Corteva, Inc. has a one year low of $53.40 and a one year high of $77.41. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $73.42 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $67.66.

Corteva (NYSE:CTVA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $2.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.89 by $0.31. The business had revenue of $6.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.26 billion. Corteva had a return on equity of 8.68% and a net margin of 8.16%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.83 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Corteva, Inc. will post 2.96 EPS for the current year.

Corteva Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 2nd. This is a positive change 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 payout ratio is currently 33.17%.

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.