Corteva (NYSE:CTVA) Sets New 52-Week High After Analyst Upgrade

Corteva, Inc. (NYSE:CTVA) shares reached a new 52-week high on Monday after Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on the stock from $85.00 to $95.00. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Corteva traded as high as $80.36 and last traded at $79.9560, with a volume of 1153944 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $80.12.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on CTVA. CICC Research boosted their price objective on Corteva from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Corteva from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 7th. Zacks Research downgraded Corteva from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Argus upgraded shares of Corteva to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Corteva from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $82.80.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Brian Titus sold 8,311 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.55, for a total transaction of $636,207.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 8,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $619,289.50. This represents a 50.67% decrease in their position. The transaction 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 company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Corteva

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CTVA. Harris Associates L P increased its holdings in shares of Corteva by 168.1% in the 4th quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 17,026,221 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,141,268,000 after buying an additional 10,675,052 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Corteva in the fourth quarter worth about $504,001,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its stake in Corteva by 6,527.4% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 3,148,212 shares of the company’s stock worth $211,025,000 after acquiring an additional 3,100,709 shares during the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd raised its position in Corteva by 78,688.5% during the fourth quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 2,615,779 shares of the company’s stock valued at $175,336,000 after purchasing an additional 2,612,459 shares during the period. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Corteva by 4,007.1% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,442,177 shares of the company’s stock valued at $165,164,000 after purchasing an additional 2,382,715 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.54% of the company’s stock.

Corteva Trading Up 0.5%

The stock has a market cap of $54.14 billion, a PE ratio of 50.95, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.43. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $72.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $68.86.

Corteva (NYSE:CTVA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22. The company had revenue of $3.91 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.23 billion. Corteva had a return on equity of 9.06% and a net margin of 6.29%.Corteva’s revenue was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.32 earnings per share. Corteva has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.450-3.700 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Corteva, Inc. will post 2.96 EPS for the current year.

Corteva Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Monday, March 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 2nd. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Corteva’s payout ratio is currently 45.57%.

Corteva Company Profile

Corteva, Inc (NYSE: CTVA) is an independent global agriculture company that was established as a publicly traded firm in mid‑2019 following the separation of the agriculture businesses from DowDuPont. The company focuses on delivering technologies and products that help farmers increase productivity and manage crop health. Corteva’s operations combine seed genetics, crop protection chemistries, digital tools and biological solutions to address the full cycle of crop production.

Core business activities include research and development of seed genetics and trait technologies, formulation and sale of crop protection products (such as herbicides, insecticides and fungicides), and the development of seed treatments and biologicals.