Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. Buys 2,969 Shares of Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW)

Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. grew its stake in Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) by 9.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 34,571 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,969 shares during the quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc.’s holdings in Corning were worth $1,053,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in Corning by 15.0% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 17,615,078 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $536,114,000 after purchasing an additional 2,301,745 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Corning by 7.7% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 28,714,901 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $874,943,000 after purchasing an additional 2,055,388 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its holdings in Corning by 1,329.2% during the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,321,494 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $40,239,000 after purchasing an additional 1,229,031 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in Corning by 302.7% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,496,362 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $45,564,000 after purchasing an additional 1,124,787 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in Corning by 5.1% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 21,899,529 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $667,279,000 after purchasing an additional 1,060,450 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 69.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Corning from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Mizuho assumed coverage on Corning in a report on Tuesday. They set a “neutral” rating and a $36.00 price objective for the company. Barclays boosted their price objective on Corning from $28.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $35.00 price objective on shares of Corning in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Corning from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Corning

In other Corning news, EVP Lewis A. Steverson sold 29,978 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.05, for a total transaction of $990,772.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 31,294 shares in the company, valued at $1,034,266.70. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Corning news, Vice Chairman Lawrence D. Mcrae sold 77,464 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider now owns 215,254 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,155,042.96. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Lewis A. Steverson sold 29,978 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.05, for a total transaction of $990,772.90. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 31,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,034,266.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 119,988 shares of company stock worth $3,984,964 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.45% of the company’s stock.

Corning Stock Down 0.8 %

NYSE GLW opened at $33.44 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Corning Incorporated has a 1-year low of $25.26 and a 1-year high of $36.01. The company has a 50 day moving average of $32.38 and a 200-day moving average of $30.69. The company has a market cap of $28.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.10, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.07.

Corning (NYSE:GLW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The electronics maker reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.02. Corning had a net margin of 4.96% and a return on equity of 12.31%. The business had revenue of $2.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.41 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 11.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Corning Incorporated will post 1.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Corning Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 31st will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 31st. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.35%. Corning’s dividend payout ratio is currently 157.75%.

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.