Tufton Capital Management Sells 2,624 Shares of Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW)

Tufton Capital Management cut its stake in Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) by 1.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 220,310 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 2,624 shares during the quarter. Corning accounts for about 2.0% of Tufton Capital Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Tufton Capital Management’s holdings in Corning were worth $10,469,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GLW. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund raised its position in Corning by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 66,063 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $3,139,000 after acquiring an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Corning by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 6,170 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $293,000 after acquiring an additional 211 shares during the last quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Corning by 18.3% in the fourth quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 1,419 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $67,000 after acquiring an additional 219 shares during the last quarter. Buffington Mohr McNeal boosted its stake in shares of Corning by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Buffington Mohr McNeal now owns 10,461 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $497,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP boosted its stake in shares of Corning by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 19,581 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $930,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares during the last quarter. 69.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Eric S. Musser sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 owns 152,944 shares in the company, valued at $7,940,852.48. This trade represents a 16.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on GLW. Barclays lowered their price objective on Corning from $53.00 to $52.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. HSBC raised Corning from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $51.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup upped their price target on Corning from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. StockNews.com lowered Corning from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised Corning from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $53.00.

Corning Stock Down 2.2 %

Corning stock opened at $48.93 on Friday. Corning Incorporated has a twelve month low of $30.72 and a twelve month high of $55.33. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $50.12 and a two-hundred day moving average of $47.03. 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 capitalization of $41.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 84.35, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.03.

Corning (NYSE:GLW) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The electronics maker reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 expect that Corning Incorporated will post 2.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Corning Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.29%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. Corning’s payout ratio is 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.