Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Put Options on Corteva (NYSE:CTVA)

Corteva, Inc. (NYSE:CTVA) saw some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Stock traders acquired 20,560 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 1,179% compared to the typical volume of 1,608 put options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CTVA has been the subject of several research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of Corteva from $85.00 to $77.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Wolfe Research boosted their target price on Corteva from $79.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price target on Corteva from $86.00 to $80.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 17th. Zacks Research cut Corteva from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Barclays raised Corteva from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $75.00 to $84.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $78.39.

Corteva Stock Down 3.1%

Shares of NYSE:CTVA opened at $63.93 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $65.52 and its 200 day moving average is $69.67. Corteva has a 12-month low of $53.40 and a 12-month high of $77.41. The stock has a market cap of $43.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.32, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Corteva (NYSE:CTVA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The company reported ($0.23) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.49) by $0.26. The business had revenue of $2.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.47 billion. Corteva had a return on equity of 9.37% and a net margin of 9.19%.The business’s revenue was up 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.49) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Corteva will post 2.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Corteva Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 1st will be paid a $0.18 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 1st. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.1%. Corteva’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.77%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Robert D. King sold 37,280 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.20, for a total transaction of $2,766,176.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 49,262 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,655,240.40. This represents a 43.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.15% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Corteva

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Gladwyn Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Corteva during the second quarter worth $25,000. Activest Wealth Management increased its position in shares of Corteva by 118.3% during the 3rd quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 369 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. JPL Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Corteva during the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. True Wealth Design LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Corteva by 209.5% in the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 390 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 264 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Total Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in Corteva during the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Institutional investors own 81.54% of the company’s stock.

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.