QRG Capital Management Inc. Increases Stake in Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW)

QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) by 9.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 38,429 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after buying an additional 3,189 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Corning were worth $1,826,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GLW. Northstar Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in Corning by 258.4% during the 4th quarter. Northstar Advisory Group LLC now owns 123,808 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $5,883,000 after purchasing an additional 89,268 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in Corning by 48.4% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 191,648 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $8,975,000 after purchasing an additional 62,514 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Corning by 52.8% during 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. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its stake in Corning by 16.8% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 111,448 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $5,296,000 after purchasing an additional 16,001 shares during the period. Finally, First Financial Bank Trust Division boosted its stake in Corning by 27.5% during the 4th quarter. First Financial Bank Trust Division now owns 138,153 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $6,565,000 after purchasing an additional 29,790 shares during the period. 69.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Corning

In other Corning news, SVP Michael Alan Bell sold 2,209 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.87, for a total transaction of $110,162.83. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Eric S. Musser sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.92, for a total transaction of $1,557,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 152,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,940,852.48. This trade 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 currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on GLW shares. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Corning from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Corning from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. HSBC upgraded shares of Corning from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $51.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Corning from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Corning from $53.00 to $52.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $53.00.

Corning Stock Performance

Shares of GLW opened at $50.25 on Monday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $50.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $47.16. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The company has a market capitalization of $43.04 billion, a PE ratio of 86.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.03. Corning Incorporated has a 52-week low of $30.72 and a 52-week high of $55.33.

Corning (NYSE:GLW) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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%. Equities research analysts predict that Corning Incorporated will post 2.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Corning Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.23%. Corning’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 193.10%.

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.