Citigroup Boosts Corning (NYSE:GLW) Price Target to $51.00

Corning (NYSE:GLW) had its price objective hoisted by Citigroup from $45.00 to $51.00 in a research report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the electronics maker’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on GLW. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Corning from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Corning from a neutral rating to an overweight rating and increased their target price for the stock from $37.00 to $43.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Fox Advisors upgraded shares of Corning from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and set a $45.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, June 17th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Corning from a moderate sell rating to a hold rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Argus increased their target price on shares of Corning from $40.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $43.38.

Corning Stock Performance

NYSE GLW opened at $45.76 on Friday. Corning has a 52-week low of $25.26 and a 52-week high of $46.27. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $38.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $34.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.67. The company has a market capitalization of $39.20 billion, a PE ratio of 64.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.05.

Corning (NYSE:GLW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The electronics maker reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.02. Corning had a net margin of 4.96% and a return on equity of 12.31%. The business had revenue of $2.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.12 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.41 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 11.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Corning will post 1.94 EPS for the current year.

Corning Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, August 30th will be paid a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 29th. Corning’s dividend payout ratio is currently 157.75%.

Insider Activity at Corning

In related news, SVP John Z. Zhang sold 12,546 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.42, for a total value of $419,287.32. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,355 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $379,484.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, SVP John Z. Zhang sold 12,546 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.42, for a total value of $419,287.32. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,355 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $379,484.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Jeffrey W. Evenson sold 103,437 shares of Corning stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.19, for a total transaction of $3,433,074.03. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 70,110 shares in the company, valued at $2,326,950.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 175,207 shares of company stock valued at $5,876,067 over the last three months. 0.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in GLW. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Corning during the fourth quarter worth approximately $247,721,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Corning by 35.1% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 17,200,828 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $566,941,000 after acquiring an additional 4,464,893 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Corning by 9.0% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 31,312,779 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $953,474,000 after buying an additional 2,597,878 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Corning by 41.7% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 6,212,356 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $189,166,000 after buying an additional 1,828,097 shares during the period. Finally, Natixis increased its stake in shares of Corning by 2,405.2% in the first quarter. Natixis now owns 1,807,801 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $59,585,000 after buying an additional 1,735,638 shares during the period. 69.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.