Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Acquires 32,329 Shares of Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its holdings in Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) by 10.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 329,279 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 32,329 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Corning were worth $15,647,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Corning by 0.3% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 39,225,452 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $1,771,029,000 after purchasing an additional 133,214 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Corning by 3.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,983,090 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $1,534,337,000 after purchasing an additional 1,242,718 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Corning by 0.8% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,853,076 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $219,116,000 after purchasing an additional 38,168 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Corning by 52.8% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,723,044 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $168,095,000 after purchasing an additional 1,285,836 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp lifted its stake in Corning by 1.9% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 2,810,435 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $126,893,000 after purchasing an additional 52,667 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Corning

In other news, SVP Michael Alan Bell sold 2,209 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.87, for a total transaction of $110,162.83. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Eric S. Musser sold 30,000 shares of the business’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 sale, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on GLW shares. HSBC raised shares of Corning from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $51.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Corning from $53.00 to $52.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com raised shares of Corning from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 24th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Corning from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Corning from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $53.00.

Corning Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of Corning stock opened at $50.79 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $49.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $46.86. The company has a market cap of $43.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 87.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.03. Corning Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $30.72 and a fifty-two week high of $55.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.62.

Corning (NYSE:GLW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The electronics maker reported $0.57 earnings per share 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 predict that Corning Incorporated will post 2.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Corning Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.21%. Corning’s dividend payout ratio is currently 193.10%.

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.