Brokerages Set Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) PT at $50.77

Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $50.77.

Several research firms have weighed in on GLW. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Corning from $39.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Corning from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $58.00 price target (up from $51.00) on shares of Corning in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com cut shares of Corning from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Corning from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th.

Corning Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:GLW opened at $47.31 on Wednesday. Corning has a 52-week low of $29.71 and a 52-week high of $51.03. The company has a market capitalization of $40.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 278.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $47.75 and a 200 day simple moving average of $43.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.66.

Corning (NYSE:GLW) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The electronics maker reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.01. Corning had a net margin of 1.24% and a return on equity of 13.45%. The business had revenue of $3.39 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.72 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.45 EPS. Corning’s revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Corning will post 1.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Corning Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th were paid a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.37%. Corning’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 658.82%.

Insider Activity at Corning

In related news, SVP John P. Bayne, Jr. sold 8,876 shares of Corning stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.09, for a total value of $435,722.84. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP John P. Bayne, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of Corning stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.39, for a total transaction of $241,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,700 shares in the company, valued at $324,213. This trade represents a 42.74 % 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 insiders.

Institutional Trading of Corning

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Corning by 1.4% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 890,981 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $40,228,000 after buying an additional 12,451 shares in the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Corning by 39.7% in the third quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 91,821 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $4,130,000 after buying an additional 26,097 shares in the last quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Corning by 105.1% in the third quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,259 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $147,000 after buying an additional 1,670 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 62,514 shares during the period. Finally, Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Corning by 0.7% during the third quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 51,821 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $2,339,000 after purchasing an additional 350 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.80% of the company’s stock.

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.