Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) VP Sells $473,676.90 in Stock

Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) VP John Z. Zhang sold 9,610 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.29, for a total value of $473,676.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Corning Stock Up 1.0%

GLW stock opened at $49.95 on Friday. Corning Incorporated has a 52 week low of $36.21 and a 52 week high of $55.33. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $44.82 and a 200 day moving average of $47.55. 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 capitalization of $42.78 billion, a PE ratio of 86.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.09.

Corning (NYSE:GLW) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The electronics maker reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $3.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.63 billion. Corning had a net margin of 3.86% and a return on equity of 15.10%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.38 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Corning Incorporated will post 2.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Corning Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be issued a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. Corning’s payout ratio is currently 215.38%.

Institutional Trading of Corning

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Corning by 0.9% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Corning by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 18,470,610 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $875,633,000 after buying an additional 533,686 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 208,826 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Corning during the fourth quarter worth $490,933,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Corning by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,800,573 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $465,723,000 after acquiring an additional 78,497 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on GLW. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on shares of Corning from $58.00 to $55.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Citigroup reduced 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, April 14th. HSBC upgraded shares of Corning from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $51.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Corning from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Corning from $62.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $53.08.

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.