National Pension Service Lowers Stock Position in Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW)

National Pension Service lessened its stake in shares of Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) by 5.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,430,422 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 78,446 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service’s holdings in Corning were worth $67,974,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of GLW. Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted 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 worth $25,000 after buying an additional 227 shares during the period. Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new position in Corning during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Asset Planning Inc purchased a new position in Corning during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton boosted its stake in shares of Corning by 202.4% in the fourth quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 747 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the period. Finally, JFS Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Corning by 171.8% in the fourth quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 810 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 512 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Corning from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Corning from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Corning from $53.00 to $52.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Corning from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, HSBC raised shares of Corning from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $51.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $53.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Michael Alan Bell sold 2,209 shares of Corning 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Eric S. Musser sold 30,000 shares of Corning stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.92, for a total transaction of $1,557,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 152,944 shares in the company, valued at $7,940,852.48. The trade was a 16.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Corning Stock Down 2.2 %

Shares of NYSE:GLW opened at $48.93 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. Corning Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $30.72 and a fifty-two week high of $55.33. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $50.12 and its 200 day moving average price is $47.03. The stock has a market cap of $41.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 84.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.03.

Corning (NYSE:GLW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The electronics maker reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.01. Corning had a net margin of 3.86% and a return on equity of 15.10%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Corning Incorporated will post 2.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Corning Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.29%. Corning’s payout ratio is currently 193.10%.

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.