Gabelli Funds LLC Reduces Position in Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW)

Gabelli Funds LLC reduced its stake in Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) by 9.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 485,300 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 48,400 shares during the quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC owned about 0.06% of Corning worth $23,061,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Corning in the 4th quarter valued at about $490,933,000. Amundi boosted its position in Corning by 139.0% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 3,900,808 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $186,186,000 after acquiring an additional 2,268,436 shares during the last quarter. Mariner LLC boosted its position in Corning by 134.0% during the fourth quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 3,869,358 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $183,867,000 after acquiring an additional 2,215,840 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Corning in the 4th quarter worth approximately $92,522,000. Finally, Appaloosa LP acquired a new position in Corning in the 4th quarter valued at $71,280,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GLW has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Corning from $58.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Mizuho set a $52.00 price objective on shares of Corning in a report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Corning from $39.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Corning from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, 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. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $54.08.

Corning Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE GLW opened at $41.77 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $47.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $47.76. The company has a current ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. Corning Incorporated has a 12-month low of $30.72 and a 12-month high of $55.33. The company has a market cap of $35.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 72.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.03.

Corning (NYSE:GLW) last posted its 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%. Research analysts anticipate that Corning Incorporated will post 2.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Corning Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were given a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.68%. Corning’s payout ratio is currently 193.10%.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Eric S. Musser sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 152,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,940,852.48. The trade was a 16.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Michael Alan Bell sold 2,209 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

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.