LGT Group Foundation Buys 72,912 Shares of Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW)

LGT Group Foundation increased its stake in Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) by 24.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 373,025 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 72,912 shares during the quarter. LGT Group Foundation’s holdings in Corning were worth $17,077,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of GLW. Polar Capital Holdings Plc bought a new position in Corning in the 4th quarter worth $124,253,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Corning in the 1st quarter worth $104,789,000. Mariner LLC increased its stake in Corning by 134.0% in the 4th quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 3,869,358 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $183,867,000 after buying an additional 2,215,840 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Corning by 101.0% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,951,938 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $135,140,000 after buying an additional 1,483,151 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in Corning by 3,441.4% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 1,190,359 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $54,495,000 after buying an additional 1,156,746 shares in the last quarter. 69.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Citigroup increased their price target on Corning from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Argus restated a “buy” rating and set a $68.00 price objective on shares of Corning in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Corning in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised Corning from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Corning from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $65.17.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Avery H. Nelson III sold 36,240 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.26, for a total transaction of $2,256,302.40. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 64,838 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,036,813.88. This trade represents a 35.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Edward A. Schlesinger sold 14,082 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.28, for a total transaction of $877,026.96. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 78,316 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,877,520.48. This trade represents a 15.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 211,484 shares of company stock valued at $12,813,804 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Corning Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of GLW stock opened at $65.00 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 1.50 and a quick ratio of 0.93. The company has a market cap of $55.68 billion, a PE ratio of 69.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.08. Corning Incorporated has a 1 year low of $37.31 and a 1 year high of $66.50. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $54.51 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $49.69.

Corning (NYSE:GLW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The electronics maker reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $3.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.84 billion. Corning had a net margin of 5.77% and a return on equity of 17.27%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.47 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Corning Incorporated will post 2.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Corning Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 29th will be paid a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 29th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. Corning’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 119.15%.

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.