Bank of America Issues Positive Forecast for Corning (NYSE:GLW) Stock Price

Corning (NYSE:GLW) had its target price raised by Bank of America from $65.00 to $68.00 in a report released on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the electronics maker’s stock.

GLW has been the subject of several other research reports. HSBC upgraded Corning from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $51.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Corning from $53.00 to $52.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Corning from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Corning from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on Corning from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $54.31.

Corning Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GLW opened at $48.49 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The stock has a market cap of $41.53 billion, a PE ratio of 83.60, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.03. The company’s fifty day moving average is $49.91 and its 200 day moving average is $47.63. Corning has a 52 week low of $30.72 and a 52 week high of $55.33.

Corning (NYSE:GLW) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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%. Research analysts anticipate that Corning will post 2.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Corning Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.31%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. Corning’s dividend payout ratio is currently 193.10%.

Insider Activity

In other Corning 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 value of $1,557,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Michael Alan Bell sold 2,209 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were 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. 0.45% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Corning

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Corning by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 99,903,247 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $4,747,402,000 after buying an additional 916,528 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Corning by 0.3% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 39,225,452 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $1,771,029,000 after acquiring an additional 133,214 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Corning by 3.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,983,090 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,534,337,000 after acquiring an additional 1,242,718 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Corning by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 18,470,610 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $875,633,000 after purchasing an additional 533,686 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Corning by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,870,375 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $516,560,000 after purchasing an additional 208,826 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.80% of the company’s stock.

Corning Company 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.