Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Sells 2,853 Shares of Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lowered its stake in shares of Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) by 6.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 40,926 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 2,853 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Corning were worth $1,945,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Corning by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 39,225,452 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,771,029,000 after acquiring an additional 133,214 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Corning by 3.8% in the 3rd 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 period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Corning by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,937,981 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $234,653,000 after purchasing an additional 84,905 shares during the period. Amundi lifted its stake in shares of Corning by 139.0% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 3,900,808 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $186,186,000 after purchasing an additional 2,268,436 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Corning by 52.8% in the 3rd 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 period. Institutional investors own 69.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GLW has been the topic of several recent research reports. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Corning from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Corning from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Corning from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com cut shares of Corning from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, HSBC upgraded shares of Corning from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $51.00 to $60.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $54.31.

Insider Activity at Corning

In related news, COO Eric S. Musser sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.92, for a total value of $1,557,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 152,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,940,852.48. This trade represents a 16.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Michael Alan Bell sold 2,209 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.87, for a total transaction of $110,162.83. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.45% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Corning Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of GLW opened at $48.49 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 1.62 and a quick ratio of 1.07. Corning Incorporated has a 1 year low of $30.72 and a 1 year high of $55.33. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $49.91 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $47.63. The firm has a market cap of $41.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 83.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.03.

Corning (NYSE:GLW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The electronics maker reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, equities analysts expect that Corning Incorporated will post 2.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Corning Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.31%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. Corning’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 193.10%.

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.