Primecap Management Co. CA Decreases Stock Holdings in Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW)

Primecap Management Co. CA trimmed its position in shares of Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) by 2.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 8,325,672 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 232,847 shares during the quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA’s holdings in Corning were worth $395,636,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of Corning by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. now owns 191,954 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $9,122,000 after buying an additional 2,378 shares during the last quarter. 1ST Source Bank lifted its position in shares of Corning by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. 1ST Source Bank now owns 11,693 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $556,000 after buying an additional 287 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC lifted its position in shares of Corning by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 23,200 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,102,000 after buying an additional 449 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Corning by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 20,617 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $980,000 after buying an additional 604 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp lifted its position in shares of Corning by 15.3% during the fourth quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 123,497 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $5,869,000 after buying an additional 16,412 shares during the last quarter. 69.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Corning

In related news, SVP Michael Alan Bell sold 2,209 shares of Corning stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.87, for a total value of $110,162.83. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Eric S. Musser sold 30,000 shares of Corning 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 152,944 shares in the company, valued at $7,940,852.48. This represents a 16.40 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on GLW shares. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Corning from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. StockNews.com lowered shares of Corning from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Barclays decreased 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. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Corning from $39.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, HSBC raised shares of Corning from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $51.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Four investment 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $53.00.

Corning Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GLW opened at $46.81 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 80.70, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.03. Corning Incorporated has a 12 month low of $30.72 and a 12 month high of $55.33. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $49.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $47.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 1.62 and a quick ratio of 1.07.

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

Corning Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.39%. Corning’s payout ratio is 193.10%.

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.