Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Acquires Shares of 46,400 Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in shares of Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 46,400 shares of the electronics maker’s stock, valued at approximately $1,413,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GLW. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Corning in the 4th quarter valued at about $241,456,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of Corning by 74.1% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,681,332 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $306,278,000 after purchasing an additional 3,694,339 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in shares of Corning by 26.5% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 13,734,071 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $438,666,000 after purchasing an additional 2,875,197 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on GLW shares. StockNews.com upgraded Corning from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Barclays lifted 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. HSBC lowered Corning from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $29.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Thursday, February 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Corning from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective 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 issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $34.56.

Insider Activity

In related news, Vice Chairman Lawrence D. Mcrae sold 77,464 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 215,254 shares in the company, valued at $7,155,042.96. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Corning Price Performance

GLW stock opened at $31.27 on Friday. 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $32.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $30.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.75 billion, a PE ratio of 46.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.08. Corning Incorporated has a 1 year low of $25.26 and a 1 year high of $36.01.

Corning (NYSE:GLW) last posted its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $2.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.26 billion. Corning had a return on equity of 12.31% and a net margin of 4.62%. The business’s revenue was down 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.47 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Corning Incorporated will post 1.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Corning Announces Dividend

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

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.