California Public Employees Retirement System Buys 77,299 Shares of Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW)

California Public Employees Retirement System raised its holdings in Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) by 1.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,564,273 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 77,299 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Corning were worth $138,982,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GLW. Harvest Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Corning by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Harvest Investment Advisors LLC now owns 36,286 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $1,106,000 after acquiring an additional 364 shares during the last quarter. Venture Visionary Partners LLC lifted its stake in Corning by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Venture Visionary Partners LLC now owns 19,359 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $589,000 after purchasing an additional 380 shares during the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp grew its stake in shares of Corning by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 14,785 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $450,000 after acquiring an additional 385 shares during the period. New World Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Corning by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. New World Advisors LLC now owns 11,800 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $359,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Western Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Corning by 1.6% in the third quarter. Western Wealth Management LLC now owns 25,719 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $784,000 after purchasing an additional 405 shares in the last quarter. 69.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Barclays increased their target price on Corning from $28.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $35.00 target price on shares of Corning in a research note on Monday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Corning from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Susquehanna restated a “positive” rating and set a $40.00 price target on shares of Corning in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Corning from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $34.78.

Insider Activity

In other Corning news, Vice Chairman Lawrence D. Mcrae sold 77,464 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.24, for a total value of $2,574,903.36. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 215,254 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,155,042.96. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.45% of the company’s stock.

Corning Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:GLW opened at $31.53 on Wednesday. Corning Incorporated has a 12 month low of $25.26 and a 12 month high of $36.01. The company has a market cap of $26.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $32.31 and a 200-day moving average price of $30.42.

Corning (NYSE:GLW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The electronics maker reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.39. The business had revenue of $2.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.26 billion. Corning had a net margin of 4.62% and a return on equity of 12.31%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.47 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Corning Incorporated will post 1.87 EPS for the current year.

Corning Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 29th were paid a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 28th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.55%. Corning’s payout ratio is 167.16%.

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.