Corning (NYSE:GLW) Rating Reiterated by Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley reiterated their equal weight rating on shares of Corning (NYSE:GLW) in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $39.00 price objective on the electronics maker’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Corning from a neutral rating to an overweight rating and upped their target price for the company from $37.00 to $43.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Corning from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Friday, June 14th. HSBC raised shares of Corning from a reduce rating to a hold rating and set a $37.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. StockNews.com raised shares of Corning from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Corning from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Corning currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $44.31.

Corning Price Performance

GLW opened at $42.67 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $36.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.05. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $39.99 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $35.03. Corning has a 52-week low of $25.26 and a 52-week high of $46.39.

Corning (NYSE:GLW) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The electronics maker reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $2.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.12 billion. Corning had a net margin of 4.96% and a return on equity of 12.31%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.41 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Corning will post 1.94 EPS for the current year.

Corning Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 30th will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 29th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.62%. Corning’s dividend payout ratio is currently 157.75%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Jeffrey W. Evenson sold 12,830 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.39, for a total transaction of $479,713.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 57,280 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,141,699.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, VP Jeffrey W. Evenson sold 12,830 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.39, for a total value of $479,713.70. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 57,280 shares in the company, valued at $2,141,699.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Martin J. Curran sold 16,416 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.70, for a total value of $553,219.20. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 65,598 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,210,652.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 175,207 shares of company stock worth $5,876,067. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Corning

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GLW. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Corning in the fourth quarter worth $247,721,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position 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 purchasing an additional 4,464,893 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Corning by 9.0% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 31,312,779 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $953,474,000 after purchasing an additional 2,597,878 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Corning by 41.7% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 6,212,356 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $189,166,000 after purchasing an additional 1,828,097 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Natixis lifted its position in shares of Corning by 2,405.2% during the first quarter. Natixis now owns 1,807,801 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $59,585,000 after purchasing an additional 1,735,638 shares during the last quarter. 69.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Corning Company Profile

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.