West Paces Advisors Inc. Decreases Stake in Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW)

West Paces Advisors Inc. lowered its position in shares of Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) by 12.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 11,960 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 1,629 shares during the quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Corning were worth $364,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Everence Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Corning by 125.1% in the 4th quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 32,890 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $1,002,000 after acquiring an additional 18,280 shares during the period. SVB Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Corning by 10.0% in the 4th quarter. SVB Wealth LLC now owns 9,790 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $298,000 after acquiring an additional 889 shares during the period. Emfo LLC purchased a new position in Corning in the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Corning by 54.0% in the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 153,440 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $4,672,000 after acquiring an additional 53,830 shares during the period. Finally, Cullen Investment Group LTD. purchased a new position in Corning in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,393,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on GLW shares. StockNews.com upgraded Corning from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 1st. UBS Group increased their target price on Corning from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased 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. Barclays increased their target price on Corning from $28.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, HSBC cut Corning from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $29.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Corning presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $34.56.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Vice Chairman Lawrence D. Mcrae sold 77,464 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.24, for a total transaction of $2,574,903.36. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 215,254 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,155,042.96. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.45% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Corning Stock Performance

GLW traded down $0.37 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $30.92. 5,754,152 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,751,854. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $32.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $30.37. Corning Incorporated has a 12 month low of $25.26 and a 12 month high of $36.01. The stock has a market cap of $26.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 1.05.

Corning (NYSE:GLW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The electronics maker reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.39. Corning had a return on equity of 12.31% and a net margin of 4.62%. The firm had revenue of $2.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.26 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.47 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Corning Incorporated will post 1.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Corning Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were given a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.62%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 28th. Corning’s dividend payout ratio is presently 167.16%.

About Corning

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.