Investors Buy Large Volume of Corning Call Options (NYSE:GLW)

Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Investors bought 22,076 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 526% compared to the average daily volume of 3,525 call options.

Insider Activity at Corning

In other news, Vice Chairman Lawrence D. Mcrae sold 77,464 shares of Corning stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.24, for a total transaction of $2,574,903.36. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 215,254 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,155,042.96. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GLW. Cibc World Market Inc. raised its stake in shares of Corning by 22.1% in the 1st quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 65,555 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $2,420,000 after acquiring an additional 11,884 shares during the period. Prudential PLC purchased a new position in Corning in the first quarter valued at about $588,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Corning by 15.5% during the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,922 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $293,000 after purchasing an additional 1,062 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Corning by 0.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 92,746,889 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $3,423,287,000 after purchasing an additional 671,480 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Corning by 24.4% in the first quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 714,932 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $26,388,000 after buying an additional 140,098 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.80% of the company’s stock.

Corning Trading Up 0.4 %

Corning stock traded up $0.12 during trading on Thursday, reaching $31.10. The company had a trading volume of 627,794 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,701,260. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.24, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.08. Corning has a 12-month low of $25.26 and a 12-month high of $36.01. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $32.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $30.38.

Corning (NYSE:GLW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The electronics maker reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39. Corning had a return on equity of 12.31% and a net margin of 4.62%. The business had revenue of $2.99 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.47 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Corning will post 1.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Corning Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 28th. Corning’s payout ratio is currently 167.16%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on GLW shares. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Corning from $28.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “positive” rating and issued a $40.00 price target on shares of Corning in a report on Monday, April 1st. HSBC cut shares of Corning from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $29.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Corning from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Corning from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $34.56.

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.