Cetera Investment Advisers Cuts Holdings in Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW)

Cetera Investment Advisers decreased its position in Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) by 19.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 197,789 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 48,036 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers’ holdings in Corning were worth $9,399,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Corning by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 99,903,247 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $4,747,402,000 after buying an additional 916,528 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Corning by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 18,470,610 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $875,633,000 after purchasing an additional 533,686 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Corning by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,870,375 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $516,560,000 after purchasing an additional 208,826 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Corning during the fourth quarter worth about $490,933,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Corning by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 9,800,573 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $465,723,000 after purchasing an additional 78,497 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on GLW. HSBC raised shares of Corning from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $51.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Corning from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Corning from $62.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Corning from $58.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Corning from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $53.08.

Insider Transactions at Corning

In other Corning news, SVP Michael Alan Bell sold 20,262 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.06, for a total transaction of $892,743.72. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Corning Stock Performance

Corning stock opened at $45.08 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $44.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $47.49. Corning Incorporated has a 1-year low of $34.15 and a 1-year high of $55.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 1.62 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The stock has a market cap of $38.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 77.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.09.

Corning (NYSE:GLW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The electronics maker reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.03. Corning had a net margin of 3.86% and a return on equity of 15.10%. The business had revenue of $3.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.63 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.38 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Corning Incorporated will post 2.33 EPS for the current year.

Corning Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be paid a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.48%. Corning’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 215.38%.

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.