Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, ten have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $53.00.

Several research firms have recently weighed in on GLW. Citigroup boosted their target price on Corning from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. StockNews.com cut Corning from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Corning from $39.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. HSBC upgraded shares of 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 report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Corning from $53.00 to $52.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Michael Alan Bell sold 2,209 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was 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 stock was sold at an average price of $51.92, for a total value of $1,557,600.00. Following the transaction, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Corning

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Northstar Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in Corning by 258.4% in 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 during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Corning by 48.4% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 191,648 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $8,975,000 after acquiring an additional 62,514 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Corning by 52.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,723,044 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $168,095,000 after purchasing an additional 1,285,836 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp grew 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 purchasing an additional 16,001 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Financial Bank Trust Division increased its stake in shares of Corning by 27.5% during the 4th quarter. First Financial Bank Trust Division now owns 138,153 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $6,565,000 after purchasing an additional 29,790 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.80% of the company’s stock.

Corning Stock Performance

Shares of Corning stock opened at $45.89 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 79.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. Corning has a 52 week low of $30.72 and a 52 week high of $55.33. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $50.06 and its two-hundred day moving average is $47.38.

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

Corning Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.44%. Corning’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.