Principal Securities Inc. Purchases 211 Shares of Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW)

Principal Securities Inc. increased its position in shares of Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) by 3.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 6,170 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after acquiring an additional 211 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc.’s holdings in Corning were worth $293,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC increased its stake in 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 buying an additional 1,285,836 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Corning by 3.8% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Corning by 215.6% during the 3rd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 1,677,513 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $75,740,000 after purchasing an additional 1,145,955 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC raised its stake in Corning by 4,306.9% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 1,050,463 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $47,428,000 after purchasing an additional 1,026,626 shares during the period. Finally, Conning Inc. lifted its holdings in Corning by 14,556.8% in the 3rd quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 881,019 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $39,778,000 after purchasing an additional 875,008 shares in the last quarter. 69.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on GLW. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Corning from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Corning from $53.00 to $52.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Corning from $39.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. HSBC upgraded Corning from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $51.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on Corning from $49.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Corning has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $53.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Michael Alan Bell sold 2,209 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.87, for a total value of $110,162.83. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Eric S. Musser sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.92, for a total value of $1,557,600.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 152,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,940,852.48. This represents a 16.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Corning Price Performance

Shares of Corning stock opened at $51.46 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $44.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 88.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.62. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $49.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $46.77. Corning Incorporated has a one year low of $30.72 and a one year high of $55.33.

Corning (NYSE:GLW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The electronics maker reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.01. Corning had a net margin of 3.86% and a return on equity of 15.10%. Equities analysts expect that Corning Incorporated will post 2.33 EPS for the current year.

Corning Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. Corning’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 193.11%.

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.