Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Makes New Investment in Corteva, Inc. (NYSE:CTVA)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund acquired a new position in Corteva, Inc. (NYSE:CTVA) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 225,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,860,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of CTVA. KBC Group NV raised its stake in shares of Corteva by 267.3% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,120,104 shares of the company’s stock valued at $65,851,000 after buying an additional 815,135 shares during the period. Oak Thistle LLC bought a new stake in shares of Corteva in the fourth quarter valued at $1,514,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Corteva by 1.5% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,523,996 shares of the company’s stock valued at $265,966,000 after buying an additional 66,052 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in shares of Corteva by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 9,428,206 shares of the company’s stock valued at $537,031,000 after buying an additional 525,531 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB raised its stake in shares of Corteva by 51.9% in the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 695,641 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,624,000 after buying an additional 237,764 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.54% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Corteva

In other news, insider Brian Titus sold 26,560 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.74, for a total value 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CTVA has been the topic of several research reports. Citigroup boosted their target price on Corteva from $69.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. BNP Paribas upgraded Corteva to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Corteva from $74.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Corteva from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Corteva from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Corteva presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $67.73.

Corteva Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CTVA opened at $62.96 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.78. 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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $60.97 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $59.09. Corteva, Inc. has a twelve month low of $50.01 and a twelve month high of $66.24.

Corteva (NYSE:CTVA) last announced its 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 return on equity of 7.19% and a net margin of 5.36%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Corteva, Inc. will post 2.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Corteva declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, November 19th that permits the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy up to 7.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Corteva Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be issued a $0.17 dividend. 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 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.