Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Purchases 2,183 Shares of Corteva, Inc. (NYSE:CTVA)

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its stake in Corteva, Inc. (NYSE:CTVA) by 21.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 12,220 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,183 shares during the period. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Corteva were worth $659,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in Corteva by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 26,437,457 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,524,648,000 after purchasing an additional 678,722 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Corteva by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 12,815,795 shares of the company’s stock valued at $614,133,000 after acquiring an additional 310,012 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in Corteva by 7.2% in the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 9,145,282 shares of the company’s stock valued at $527,409,000 after acquiring an additional 617,030 shares during the period. Harris Associates L P increased its position in Corteva by 87.1% in the 4th quarter. Harris Associates L P now owns 9,011,702 shares of the company’s stock valued at $431,841,000 after acquiring an additional 4,194,981 shares during the period. Finally, Putnam Investments LLC increased its position in Corteva by 12.9% in the 4th quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 8,950,382 shares of the company’s stock valued at $428,902,000 after acquiring an additional 1,021,733 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 81.54% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on CTVA shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and issued a $65.00 price target on shares of Corteva in a research report on Wednesday, June 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Corteva from $57.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Argus cut shares of Corteva from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on shares of Corteva from $66.00 to $62.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, OTR Global reiterated a “negative” rating on shares of Corteva in a research report on Friday, June 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $61.67.

Corteva Stock Up 1.7 %

CTVA opened at $56.63 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.72 and a quick ratio of 1.17. The company’s 50-day moving average is $54.12 and its 200 day moving average is $54.64. Corteva, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $43.22 and a fifty-two week high of $58.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 71.68, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.77.

Corteva (NYSE:CTVA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.74 by $0.09. Corteva had a net margin of 5.31% and a return on equity of 7.30%. The company had revenue of $6.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.15 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.60 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Corteva, Inc. will post 2.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Corteva Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 3rd will be given a $0.17 dividend. This is a positive change from Corteva’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 3rd. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.20%. Corteva’s payout ratio is currently 86.08%.

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.