Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. Invests $38,000 in Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW)

Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 1,246 shares of the electronics maker’s stock, valued at approximately $38,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GLW. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Corning by 0.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 92,746,889 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $3,423,287,000 after purchasing an additional 671,480 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Corning by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 31,601,045 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $1,114,880,000 after buying an additional 686,278 shares in 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 worth $874,943,000 after acquiring an additional 2,055,388 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in shares of Corning by 5.1% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 21,899,529 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $667,279,000 after acquiring an additional 1,060,450 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Corning by 15.0% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 17,615,078 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $536,114,000 after acquiring an additional 2,301,745 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Vice Chairman Lawrence D. Mcrae sold 77,464 shares of Corning 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 completion of 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 available through the SEC website. 0.45% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Corning Stock Up 1.2 %

GLW stock opened at $31.27 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.08. Corning Incorporated has a 52-week low of $25.26 and a 52-week high of $36.01. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $32.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $30.40.

Corning (NYSE:GLW) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The electronics maker reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $3.26 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.47 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Corning Incorporated will post 1.87 EPS for the current year.

Corning Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 28th. Corning’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 167.16%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on GLW. Susquehanna restated a “positive” rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of Corning in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Corning from $28.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Corning from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Corning from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Corning from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 1st. One investment 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, Corning currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $34.56.

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.