OFI Invest Asset Management Invests $43,000 in Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW)

OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new position in shares of Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 944 shares of the electronics maker’s stock, valued at approximately $43,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Northstar Advisory Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Corning by 258.4% during the fourth quarter. Northstar Advisory Group LLC now owns 123,808 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $5,883,000 after purchasing an additional 89,268 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of Corning by 48.4% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 191,648 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $8,975,000 after purchasing an additional 62,514 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Corning by 52.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,723,044 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $168,095,000 after purchasing an additional 1,285,836 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its stake in shares of Corning by 16.8% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 111,448 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $5,296,000 after purchasing an additional 16,001 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Financial Bank Trust Division increased its stake in shares of Corning by 27.5% during the fourth quarter. First Financial Bank Trust Division now owns 138,153 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $6,565,000 after purchasing an additional 29,790 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on GLW. HSBC raised shares of Corning from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $51.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup upped 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. Barclays dropped 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. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Corning from $39.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Corning from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Four research 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 company. According to MarketBeat, Corning currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $53.00.

Insider Transactions at Corning

In other news, COO Eric S. Musser sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.92, for a total value of $1,557,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly 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 SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Michael Alan Bell sold 2,209 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.87, for a total transaction of $110,162.83. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Corning Stock Performance

Corning stock opened at $45.00 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $50.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $47.40. Corning Incorporated has a 1-year low of $30.72 and a 1-year high of $55.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 1.62 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The stock has a market cap of $38.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 77.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.03.

Corning (NYSE:GLW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The electronics maker reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.01. Corning had a net margin of 3.86% and a return on equity of 15.10%. On average, analysts expect that Corning Incorporated will post 2.33 EPS for the current year.

Corning Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.49%. Corning’s dividend 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.