Leavell Investment Management Inc. Grows Position in Corteva, Inc. (NYSE:CTVA)

Leavell Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Corteva, Inc. (NYSE:CTVA) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 22,018 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 212 shares during the period. Leavell Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Corteva were worth $1,254,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt raised its stake in shares of Corteva by 537.6% in the third quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 2,965 shares of the company’s stock worth $174,000 after purchasing an additional 2,500 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its holdings in Corteva by 1,058.7% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 2,329 shares of the company’s stock worth $137,000 after buying an additional 2,128 shares during the period. Procyon Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Corteva by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 13,200 shares of the company’s stock worth $776,000 after buying an additional 286 shares during the period. Fiduciary Alliance LLC purchased a new position in Corteva during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $214,000. Finally, CX Institutional acquired a new stake in Corteva during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $228,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.54% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on CTVA. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Corteva from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Corteva from $74.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. KeyCorp upped their target price on Corteva from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Barclays raised their target price on Corteva from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Corteva from $72.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $67.73.

Corteva Stock Performance

CTVA opened at $62.02 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $42.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.08, a PEG ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 0.78. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $60.24 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $58.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. Corteva, Inc. has a 52-week low of $50.01 and a 52-week high of $66.24.

Corteva (NYSE:CTVA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by ($0.02). Corteva had a net margin of 5.36% and a return on equity of 7.19%. Equities analysts anticipate that Corteva, Inc. will post 2.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Corteva announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, November 19th that allows the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 7.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Corteva Dividend Announcement

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

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.