Vontobel Holding Ltd. Reduces Stake in Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. reduced its stake in Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) by 1.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 48,170 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 830 shares during the quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in Corning were worth $1,467,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Corning by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 92,746,889 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $3,423,287,000 after buying an additional 671,480 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Corning by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 31,601,045 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,114,880,000 after purchasing an additional 686,278 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Corning by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 28,714,901 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $874,943,000 after purchasing an additional 2,055,388 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of Corning by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 21,899,529 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $667,279,000 after purchasing an additional 1,060,450 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Corning by 15.0% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 17,615,078 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $536,114,000 after purchasing an additional 2,301,745 shares during the last quarter. 69.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on GLW. StockNews.com raised Corning from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Corning from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Barclays upped their price target on Corning from $28.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of Corning in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Corning from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. One 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Corning presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $34.56.

Corning Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GLW opened at $31.27 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $32.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $30.39. 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 Incorporated has a 1-year low of $25.26 and a 1-year high of $36.01. The company has a market cap of $26.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.08.

Corning (NYSE:GLW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The electronics maker reported $0.39 earnings per share 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.26 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.47 EPS. Corning’s revenue was down 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Corning Incorporated will post 1.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Corning Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 28th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.58%. Corning’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.