Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC Invests $2.74 Million in Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW)

Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 57,567 shares of the electronics maker’s stock, valued at approximately $2,736,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its holdings in shares of Corning by 7.2% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 40,214 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $1,816,000 after buying an additional 2,702 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in Corning by 1,780.0% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 248,009 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $11,198,000 after acquiring an additional 234,817 shares during the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Corning during the 3rd quarter valued at $269,000. Allworth Financial LP raised its position in Corning by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 19,361 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $874,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Corning by 75.7% in the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 96,824 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $4,344,000 after purchasing an additional 41,715 shares in the last quarter. 69.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Corning Stock Performance

Shares of GLW stock opened at $49.73 on Wednesday. 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 $42.59 billion, a PE ratio of 85.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.03. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $50.01 and a 200-day moving average of $46.93. Corning Incorporated has a one year low of $30.72 and a one year high of $55.33.

Corning (NYSE:GLW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The electronics maker reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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, sell-side analysts expect that Corning Incorporated will post 2.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Corning Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.25%. Corning’s dividend payout ratio is presently 193.10%.

Insider Activity at Corning

In related news, SVP Michael Alan Bell sold 2,209 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.87, for a total value of $110,162.83. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO Eric S. Musser sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.92, for a total transaction of $1,557,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 152,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,940,852.48. This represents a 16.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on GLW shares. Citigroup raised their target price on Corning from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Corning from $49.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Corning from $39.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Corning from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 target price (up from $51.00) on shares of Corning in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four research 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.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $53.00.

Corning 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.