Squarepoint Ops LLC Sells 463,138 Shares of Corteva, Inc. (NYSE:CTVA)

Squarepoint Ops LLC trimmed its stake in Corteva, Inc. (NYSE:CTVA) by 96.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 18,467 shares of the company’s stock after selling 463,138 shares during the period. Squarepoint Ops LLC’s holdings in Corteva were worth $1,052,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of Corteva by 2,874.6% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 12,812,151 shares of the company’s stock valued at $729,780,000 after purchasing an additional 12,381,436 shares during the period. Independent Franchise Partners LLP raised its holdings in Corteva by 51.5% in the 4th quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 16,496,508 shares of the company’s stock worth $939,641,000 after acquiring an additional 5,604,838 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Corteva in the 4th quarter worth $251,892,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Corteva in the 4th quarter worth $161,052,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in Corteva by 9.2% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 16,143,025 shares of the company’s stock worth $919,507,000 after acquiring an additional 1,354,418 shares during the period. 81.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Corteva Stock Performance

NYSE CTVA opened at $70.81 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $48.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.89, a PEG ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.72. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $63.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $61.66. Corteva, Inc. has a twelve month low of $50.01 and a twelve month high of $71.01. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Corteva (NYSE:CTVA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.25. Corteva had a return on equity of 7.19% and a net margin of 5.36%. The company had revenue of $4.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.56 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.89 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 1.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Corteva, Inc. will post 2.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Corteva Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 2nd will be given a $0.17 dividend. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.96%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 2nd. Corteva’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.46%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CTVA has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Corteva from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Citigroup lifted their price target on Corteva from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Argus raised Corteva from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $69.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Corteva from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Corteva from $72.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Corteva has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.50.

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.