Franklin Resources Inc. Raises Stock Position in Corteva, Inc. (NYSE:CTVA)

Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in Corteva, Inc. (NYSE:CTVA) by 9.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 16,143,025 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,354,418 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Corteva were worth $919,507,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CTVA. Flagship Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Corteva in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Noble Wealth Management PBC purchased a new position in Corteva in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new stake in Corteva during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Corteva in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Corteva during the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.54% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on CTVA shares. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Corteva from $72.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Corteva from $74.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th. BNP Paribas raised Corteva to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. KeyCorp boosted 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. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Corteva from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.00.

Insider Activity 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 shares were 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 owns 11,347 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $723,257.78. This represents a 70.07 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Corteva Stock Performance

Shares of CTVA stock opened at $61.08 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. Corteva, Inc. has a 12-month low of $50.01 and a 12-month high of $66.24. The company has a market cap of $41.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.79. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $62.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $60.13.

Corteva (NYSE:CTVA) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 5.36% and a return on equity of 7.19%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Corteva, Inc. will post 2.96 EPS for the current year.

Corteva Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.11%. Corteva’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.71%.

Corteva Company 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.