GKV Capital Management Co. Inc. Acquires Shares of 22,500 Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW)

GKV Capital Management Co. Inc. bought a new position in shares of Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 22,500 shares of the electronics maker’s stock, valued at approximately $1,069,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Corning by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 99,903,247 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $4,747,402,000 after purchasing an additional 916,528 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in 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 buying an additional 533,686 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Corning in the 4th quarter valued at $490,933,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Corning by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,048,735 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $287,436,000 after acquiring an additional 293,713 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Corning by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,937,981 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $234,653,000 after purchasing an additional 84,905 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on GLW shares. Mizuho set a $52.00 target price on shares of Corning in a research report on Tuesday. Barclays dropped their price target on Corning from $53.00 to $52.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Hsbc Global Res raised Corning from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup decreased their target price on Corning from $58.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Corning from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Corning currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $54.08.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Corning Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GLW opened at $41.30 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $46.86 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $47.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $35.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 71.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.03. Corning Incorporated has a twelve month low of $30.72 and a twelve month high of $55.33.

Corning (NYSE:GLW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The electronics maker reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.01. Corning had a net margin of 3.86% and a return on equity of 15.10%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Corning Incorporated will post 2.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Corning Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were given a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.71%. Corning’s payout ratio is 193.10%.

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.