Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) Shares Sold by Wellington Shields & Co. LLC

Wellington Shields & Co. LLC decreased its holdings in Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) by 2.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 36,120 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 1,000 shares during the quarter. Wellington Shields & Co. LLC’s holdings in Corning were worth $1,716,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its stake in Corning by 76.7% during the fourth quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 523 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 227 shares in the last quarter. Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new stake in Corning during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Asset Planning Inc acquired a new stake in Corning during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton raised its stake in Corning by 202.4% during the fourth quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 747 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mainstream Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Corning during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Corning

In other news, COO Eric S. Musser sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.92, for a total transaction of $1,557,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 152,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,940,852.48. This represents a 16.40 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Michael Alan Bell sold 2,209 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.87, for a total value of $110,162.83. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GLW has been the topic of several research reports. HSBC upgraded Corning from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $51.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Corning from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Corning from $39.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Barclays dropped their price target on Corning from $53.00 to $52.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Corning from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Corning has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $53.00.

Corning Stock Performance

Shares of GLW stock opened at $46.86 on Friday. Corning Incorporated has a 12-month low of $30.72 and a 12-month high of $55.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $40.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 80.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.03. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $49.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $47.43. 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 (NYSE:GLW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The electronics maker reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.01. Corning had a return on equity of 15.10% and a net margin of 3.86%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Corning Incorporated will post 2.33 EPS for the current year.

Corning Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.39%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. Corning’s payout ratio is currently 193.10%.

About Corning

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.