Advisory Services Network LLC Increases Position in Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW)

Advisory Services Network LLC raised its holdings in shares of Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) by 35.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 93,789 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 24,369 shares during the quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC’s holdings in Corning were worth $4,457,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Northstar Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings in Corning by 258.4% during the 4th quarter. Northstar Advisory Group LLC now owns 123,808 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $5,883,000 after acquiring an additional 89,268 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of Corning by 48.4% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 191,648 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $8,975,000 after buying an additional 62,514 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its position in shares of Corning by 16.8% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 111,448 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $5,296,000 after buying an additional 16,001 shares during the last quarter. First Financial Bank Trust Division raised its position in shares of Corning by 27.5% in the fourth quarter. First Financial Bank Trust Division now owns 138,153 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $6,565,000 after buying an additional 29,790 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New Century Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Corning in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,110,000. 69.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GLW has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Barclays cut 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 report on Wednesday, January 29th. HSBC upgraded shares of Corning from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $51.00 to $60.00 in a report on Thursday, January 30th. 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. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Corning from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Corning from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Four equities research 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $54.31.

Insider Activity at Corning

In other Corning news, COO Eric S. Musser sold 30,000 shares of the 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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 152,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,940,852.48. This represents a 16.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Michael Alan Bell sold 2,209 shares of the stock in a transaction 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. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Corning Trading Up 10.3 %

NYSE GLW opened at $43.20 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $47.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $47.83. Corning Incorporated has a 52 week low of $30.72 and a 52 week high of $55.33. The company has a current ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The stock has a market cap of $37.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 74.49, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.03.

Corning (NYSE:GLW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The electronics maker reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. Equities research analysts predict that Corning Incorporated will post 2.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Corning Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.59%. Corning’s dividend payout ratio is presently 193.10%.

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.