River Road Asset Management LLC Sells 249,570 Shares of Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW)

River Road Asset Management LLC decreased its holdings in Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) by 17.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,212,845 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 249,570 shares during the quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC owned about 0.14% of Corning worth $36,931,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GLW. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Corning in the fourth quarter worth $241,456,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Corning by 74.1% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,681,332 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $306,278,000 after acquiring an additional 3,694,339 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in Corning by 26.5% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 13,734,071 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $438,666,000 after acquiring an additional 2,875,197 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Corning by 15.0% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 17,615,078 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $536,114,000 after acquiring an additional 2,301,745 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Corning by 7.7% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 28,714,901 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $874,943,000 after acquiring an additional 2,055,388 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Corning news, Vice Chairman Lawrence D. Mcrae sold 77,464 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 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 filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.45% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Corning Stock Performance

NYSE GLW traded up $0.06 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $30.98. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,182,752 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,745,085. Corning Incorporated has a 12 month low of $25.26 and a 12 month high of $36.01. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $32.36 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $30.38. The company has a market cap of $26.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The electronics maker reported $0.39 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 company had revenue of $2.99 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.26 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.47 EPS. Corning’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Corning Incorporated will post 1.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Corning Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on GLW shares. UBS Group raised their price objective on Corning from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. StockNews.com raised Corning from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Barclays raised their price objective on Corning from $28.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. HSBC lowered Corning from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $29.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Corning from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Corning presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $34.56.

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.