GWN Securities Inc. Invests $479,000 in Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW)

GWN Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 10,071 shares of the electronics maker’s stock, valued at approximately $479,000.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of GLW. GSA Capital Partners LLP grew its position in Corning by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 10,665 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $482,000 after purchasing an additional 274 shares during the period. KBC Group NV grew its position in Corning by 19.6% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 124,820 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $5,635,000 after purchasing an additional 20,474 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC grew its position in Corning by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 25,164 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,136,000 after purchasing an additional 462 shares during the period. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Corning by 13.2% in the 3rd quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 27,496 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,241,000 after purchasing an additional 3,204 shares during the period. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its position in Corning by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 134,900 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $6,091,000 after purchasing an additional 8,759 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Corning

In other news, COO Eric S. Musser sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 31st. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $7,940,852.48. This represents a 16.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Michael Alan Bell sold 2,209 shares of the company’s 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. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Corning Trading Up 2.8 %

Shares of Corning stock opened at $46.86 on Monday. Corning Incorporated has a 52-week low of $30.72 and a 52-week high of $55.33. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $49.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $47.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 80.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.62.

Corning (NYSE:GLW) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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%. As a group, research analysts anticipate 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. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. Corning’s dividend payout ratio is currently 193.10%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on GLW. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Corning from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. HSBC raised shares of Corning from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $51.00 to $60.00 in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Corning from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Corning from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Corning from $39.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $53.00.

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.