Verity & Verity LLC Raises Stake in Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW)

Verity & Verity LLC boosted its position in Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW - Free Report) by 2.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 664,274 shares of the electronics maker's stock after buying an additional 17,793 shares during the quarter. Corning makes up about 2.9% of Verity & Verity LLC's holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Verity & Verity LLC owned about 0.08% of Corning worth $31,566,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Edgestream Partners L.P. purchased a new position in Corning in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,683,000. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT grew its position in shares of Corning by 1.9% in the second quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 25,054 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $973,000 after purchasing an additional 462 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its stake in shares of Corning by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 172,668 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $6,708,000 after purchasing an additional 1,371 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its holdings in Corning by 19.4% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 73,631 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $2,859,000 after purchasing an additional 11,958 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL boosted its stake in Corning by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 223,289 shares of the electronics maker's stock worth $8,675,000 after purchasing an additional 3,207 shares during the period. 69.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP John P. Bayne, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.39, for a total value of $241,950.00. Following the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP John P. Bayne, Jr. sold 8,876 shares of Corning stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.09, for a total transaction of $435,722.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.45% of the company's stock.

Corning Trading Up 1.2 %

GLW stock traded up $0.59 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $49.83. The company had a trading volume of 5,472,683 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,228,455. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. Corning Incorporated has a 52 week low of $29.82 and a 52 week high of $51.03. The stock has a market cap of $42.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 293.12, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.04. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $47.96 and its 200 day moving average price is $45.03.

Corning (NYSE:GLW - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The electronics maker reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $3.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.72 billion. Corning had a net margin of 1.24% and a return on equity of 13.45%. The company's revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.45 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Corning Incorporated will post 1.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Corning from $39.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Corning from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and set a $58.00 price target (up from $51.00) on shares of Corning in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group raised their price target on Corning from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Corning from $40.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $50.77.

About Corning

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.