Sawgrass Asset Management LLC Sells 752 Shares of Corteva, Inc. (NYSE:CTVA)

Sawgrass Asset Management LLC trimmed its holdings in Corteva, Inc. (NYSE:CTVA) by 7.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,041 shares of the company’s stock after selling 752 shares during the quarter. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Corteva were worth $572,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Corteva by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 34,290,086 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,015,914,000 after purchasing an additional 768,519 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Corteva by 2.0% during 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 last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in Corteva by 6.1% during 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 last quarter. Harris Associates L P raised its holdings in Corteva by 1.4% during 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 last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Corteva by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 10,747,791 shares of the company’s stock valued at $631,863,000 after acquiring an additional 203,126 shares during the last quarter. 81.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Corteva Stock Down 1.5 %

CTVA opened at $62.02 on Thursday. Corteva, Inc. has a 1-year low of $50.01 and a 1-year high of $66.24. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $60.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The stock has a market cap of $42.63 billion, a PE ratio of 48.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 0.78.

Corteva (NYSE:CTVA) last posted 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%. As a group, research analysts expect that Corteva, Inc. will post 2.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Corteva Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders 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 yield of 1.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. Corteva’s payout ratio is 52.71%.

Corteva declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, November 19th that permits the company to buyback $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 7.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on CTVA. Barclays upped their price target on Corteva from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Bank of America upped their price target on Corteva from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Citigroup upped their price target on Corteva from $69.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. UBS Group lowered their price target on Corteva from $74.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Corteva from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Corteva currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $67.73.

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.