Signaturefd LLC Increases Holdings in Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW)

Signaturefd LLC raised its stake in shares of Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) by 2.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 23,200 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after buying an additional 449 shares during the quarter. Signaturefd LLC’s holdings in Corning were worth $1,102,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its stake in Corning by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 20,617 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $980,000 after buying an additional 604 shares during the last quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp raised its stake in shares of Corning by 15.3% in the fourth quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 123,497 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $5,869,000 after purchasing an additional 16,412 shares during the last quarter. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA purchased a new position in shares of Corning in the fourth quarter worth $4,470,000. GWN Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Corning in the fourth quarter worth $479,000. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. raised its stake in shares of Corning by 30.8% in the fourth quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 23,818 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $1,132,000 after purchasing an additional 5,608 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GLW has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. HSBC upgraded Corning from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $51.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Corning from $39.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Hsbc Global Res raised Corning from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays cut their price objective on Corning from $53.00 to $52.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on Corning from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $53.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Corning news, COO Eric S. Musser sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 document filed 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 that occurred 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. 0.45% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Corning Price Performance

Shares of Corning stock opened at $47.27 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $49.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $47.57. Corning Incorporated has a 52 week low of $30.72 and a 52 week high of $55.33. The company has a market capitalization of $40.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 81.49, a PEG 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 (NYSE:GLW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The electronics maker reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, analysts expect that Corning Incorporated will post 2.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Corning Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be given 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 2.37%. Corning’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.