Essex Financial Services Inc. Acquires 3,833 Shares of Corteva, Inc. (NYSE:CTVA)

Essex Financial Services Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Corteva, Inc. (NYSE:CTVA) by 56.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,677 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,833 shares during the period. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Corteva were worth $608,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CTVA. KBC Group NV increased its stake in Corteva by 267.3% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,120,104 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,851,000 after purchasing an additional 815,135 shares in the last quarter. Oak Thistle LLC bought a new stake in shares of Corteva during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,514,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Corteva by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,523,996 shares of the company’s stock worth $265,966,000 after acquiring an additional 66,052 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB lifted its position in Corteva by 51.9% in the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 695,641 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,624,000 after acquiring an additional 237,764 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in Corteva by 755.8% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 552,769 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,486,000 after purchasing an additional 488,181 shares during the last quarter. 81.54% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on CTVA. UBS Group lowered their price target on Corteva from $74.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Corteva from $69.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Corteva from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Corteva from $67.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Corteva from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $67.73.

Corteva Stock Performance

NYSE:CTVA opened at $62.02 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $60.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $58.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.45. Corteva, Inc. has a 52-week low of $50.01 and a 52-week high of $66.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.63 billion, a PE ratio of 48.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 0.78.

Corteva (NYSE:CTVA) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.34 by ($0.02). Corteva had a return on equity of 7.19% and a net margin of 5.36%. Analysts forecast that Corteva, Inc. will post 2.83 EPS for the current year.

Corteva Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.10%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. Corteva’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.71%.

Corteva announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Tuesday, November 19th that allows the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to purchase up to 7.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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.