Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) Shares Acquired by Wedmont Private Capital

Wedmont Private Capital boosted its position in shares of Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) by 21.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,389 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 935 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings in Corning were worth $247,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GLW. Tallon Kerry Patrick acquired a new stake in shares of Corning during the fourth quarter valued at about $302,000. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Corning by 343.6% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 114,330 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $5,433,000 after purchasing an additional 88,558 shares during the last quarter. LMR Partners LLP grew its stake in Corning by 140.1% during the 4th quarter. LMR Partners LLP now owns 1,200,442 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $57,045,000 after purchasing an additional 700,442 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. increased its holdings in Corning by 101.5% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,076 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 542 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gotham Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Corning in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $306,000. 69.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GLW has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Corning from $58.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Corning from $62.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Corning from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Mizuho set a $52.00 price objective on Corning in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Oppenheimer reduced their target price on Corning from $58.00 to $55.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $53.08.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Soumya Seetharam sold 14,313 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.01, for a total value of $715,793.13. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 31,505 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,575,565.05. This represents a 31.24% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Michael Alan Bell sold 20,262 shares of Corning stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.06, for a total value of $892,743.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 75,796 shares of company stock worth $3,632,635. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Corning Trading Down 0.3%

NYSE:GLW opened at $50.45 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 86.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.11. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $45.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $47.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 1.62 and a quick ratio of 1.07. Corning Incorporated has a 12-month low of $37.05 and a 12-month high of $55.33.

Corning (NYSE:GLW) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The electronics maker reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $3.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.63 billion. Corning had a return on equity of 15.10% and a net margin of 3.86%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.38 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Corning Incorporated will post 2.33 EPS for the current year.

Corning Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. Corning’s payout ratio is 215.38%.

Corning Profile

Corning Incorporated engages in the display technologies, optical communications, environmental technologies, specialty materials, and life sciences businesses in the United States and internationally. The company's Display Technologies segment offers glass substrates for flat panel displays, including liquid crystal displays and organic light-emitting diodes that are used in televisions, notebook computers, desktop monitors, tablets, and handheld devices.