New York State Common Retirement Fund Trims Position in Corteva, Inc. (NYSE:CTVA)

New York State Common Retirement Fund lessened its holdings in shares of Corteva, Inc. (NYSE:CTVA - Free Report) by 14.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 937,637 shares of the company's stock after selling 163,181 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned about 0.14% of Corteva worth $53,408,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of CTVA. State Street Corp lifted its position in Corteva by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 34,290,086 shares of the company's stock worth $2,015,914,000 after buying an additional 768,519 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Corteva by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 17,703,771 shares of the company's stock worth $1,037,505,000 after purchasing an additional 355,206 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Corteva by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 14,788,607 shares of the company's stock worth $860,746,000 after purchasing an additional 856,007 shares during the period. Harris Associates L P increased its stake in Corteva by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 14,362,309 shares of the company's stock worth $844,360,000 after purchasing an additional 200,917 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC increased its stake in Corteva by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,747,791 shares of the company's stock worth $631,863,000 after purchasing an additional 203,126 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 81.54% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CTVA has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup lifted their price target on Corteva from $69.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. BNP Paribas raised Corteva to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Corteva from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Corteva from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Corteva from $67.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $67.73.

Corteva Stock Down 1.7 %

Corteva stock traded down $1.08 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $62.75. The company had a trading volume of 2,476,698 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,943,916. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $60.81 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $58.82. Corteva, Inc. has a 12 month low of $50.01 and a 12 month high of $66.24. The company has a market capitalization of $43.02 billion, a PE ratio of 48.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.78.

Corteva (NYSE:CTVA - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.32 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Corteva, Inc. will post 2.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Corteva Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.08%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. Corteva's payout ratio is currently 52.71%.

Corteva declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase 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 board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.