Magnetar Financial LLC Makes New Investment in Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW)

Magnetar Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 4,764 shares of the electronics maker’s stock, valued at approximately $226,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Corning by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 39,225,452 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $1,771,029,000 after buying an additional 133,214 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in Corning by 3.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,983,090 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $1,534,337,000 after buying an additional 1,242,718 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Corning by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,937,981 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $234,653,000 after buying an additional 84,905 shares during the period. Amundi raised its position in shares of Corning by 139.0% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 3,900,808 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $186,186,000 after acquiring an additional 2,268,436 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Corning by 52.8% in the 3rd 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 during the period. 69.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GLW has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays reduced their target price 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. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Corning from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com lowered Corning from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Citigroup raised their price target on Corning from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Corning from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $54.31.

Corning Trading Down 0.4 %

NYSE:GLW opened at $48.49 on Monday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $49.91 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $47.72. The company has a market cap of $41.53 billion, a PE ratio of 83.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. Corning Incorporated has a 12 month low of $30.72 and a 12 month high of $55.33.

Corning (NYSE:GLW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The electronics maker reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.01. Corning had a return on equity of 15.10% and a net margin of 3.86%. Research analysts forecast that Corning Incorporated will post 2.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Corning Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. Corning’s payout ratio is 193.10%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, 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 transaction of $110,162.83. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Eric S. Musser sold 30,000 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 152,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,940,852.48. This trade 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 insiders.

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.