Sheets Smith Wealth Management Invests $207,000 in Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW)

Sheets Smith Wealth Management purchased a new position in Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 4,350 shares of the electronics maker’s stock, valued at approximately $207,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in GLW. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Corning by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 39,225,452 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,771,029,000 after buying an additional 133,214 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Corning by 3.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,983,090 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,534,337,000 after purchasing an additional 1,242,718 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Corning by 0.8% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,853,076 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $219,116,000 after purchasing an additional 38,168 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings 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. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp raised its position in Corning by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 2,810,435 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $126,893,000 after purchasing an additional 52,667 shares in the last quarter. 69.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on GLW shares. UBS Group raised their price target on Corning from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Corning from $39.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Corning from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Corning from $40.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Corning from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Corning presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $51.31.

Corning Price Performance

Shares of GLW stock opened at $54.01 on Thursday. Corning Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $30.30 and a fifty-two week high of $54.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 317.69, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.04. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $48.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $45.25.

Corning (NYSE:GLW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The electronics maker reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.01. Corning had a net margin of 1.24% and a return on equity of 13.45%. The business had revenue of $3.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.72 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.45 EPS. Corning’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Corning Incorporated will post 1.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Corning

In related news, SVP John P. Bayne, Jr. sold 8,876 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.09, for a total value of $435,722.84. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP John P. Bayne, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.39, for a total transaction of $241,950.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,700 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $324,213. This represents a 42.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Corning Company 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.