Jones Financial Companies Lllp Grows Holdings in Corteva, Inc. (NYSE:CTVA)

Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its holdings in shares of Corteva, Inc. (NYSE:CTVA - Free Report) by 49.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 62,657 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 20,609 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp's holdings in Corteva were worth $3,569,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CTVA. Norden Group LLC boosted its stake in Corteva by 24.1% in the 4th quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 5,811 shares of the company's stock worth $331,000 after purchasing an additional 1,127 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Corteva by 61.6% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 5,928 shares of the company's stock worth $335,000 after purchasing an additional 2,260 shares in the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC boosted its stake in Corteva by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 65,687 shares of the company's stock worth $3,742,000 after purchasing an additional 2,637 shares in the last quarter. Noble Wealth Management PBC bought a new position in Corteva in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Finally, SVB Wealth LLC bought a new position in Corteva in the 4th quarter worth about $1,183,000. Institutional investors own 81.54% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Corteva from $67.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Corteva from $74.00 to $73.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. BNP Paribas raised Corteva to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Barclays boosted their target price on Corteva from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Corteva from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Corteva presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $67.79.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Brian Titus sold 26,560 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.74, for a total transaction of $1,692,934.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 11,347 shares in the company, valued at approximately $723,257.78. This represents a 70.07 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Corteva Price Performance

CTVA stock traded up $1.37 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $61.17. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,807,538 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,566,760. Corteva, Inc. has a 12 month low of $50.01 and a 12 month high of $66.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a 50 day moving average of $61.52 and a two-hundred day moving average of $59.44.

Corteva (NYSE:CTVA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The company reported $0.32 earnings per share 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%. On average, analysts expect that Corteva, Inc. will post 2.96 EPS for the current year.

Corteva Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.11%. Corteva's dividend payout ratio is currently 52.71%.

Corteva announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Tuesday, November 19th that authorizes the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 7.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually 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.