Verity & Verity LLC Purchases 23,591 Shares of Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW)

Verity & Verity LLC raised its stake in shares of Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW – Get Rating) by 5.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 434,732 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after buying an additional 23,591 shares during the period. Corning comprises approximately 1.8% of Verity & Verity LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest holding. Verity & Verity LLC’s holdings in Corning were worth $13,885,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Insight Inv LLC boosted its stake in Corning by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Insight Inv LLC now owns 46,645 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,470,000 after purchasing an additional 275 shares during the last quarter. Prudential PLC boosted its stake in Corning by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 16,225 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $511,000 after purchasing an additional 294 shares during the last quarter. Capital Financial Services LLC boosted its stake in Corning by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Financial Services LLC now owns 10,525 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $305,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Toroso Investments LLC boosted its stake in Corning by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Toroso Investments LLC now owns 33,331 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $967,000 after purchasing an additional 306 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Greenleaf Trust boosted its stake in Corning by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 11,367 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $358,000 after purchasing an additional 311 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 67.79% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Corning in a research note on Thursday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Susquehanna boosted their target price on Corning from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 2nd. Credit Suisse Group cut their target price on Corning from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 1st. UBS Group boosted their target price on Corning from $37.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Corning from $44.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, December 20th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $37.78.

Insider Buying and Selling at Corning

In other Corning news, VP John Z. Zhang sold 4,655 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.00, for a total transaction of $167,580.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 5,744 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $206,784. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, insider Li Fang sold 19,909 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.17, for a total value of $700,199.53. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP John Z. Zhang sold 4,655 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.00, for a total transaction of $167,580.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 5,744 shares in the company, valued at approximately $206,784. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Corning Price Performance

Corning stock opened at $32.82 on Friday. Corning Incorporated has a 12 month low of $28.98 and a 12 month high of $38.71. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $35.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $33.35. The company has a market cap of $27.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.31, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.07.

Corning (NYSE:GLW – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 31st. The electronics maker reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.03. Corning had a net margin of 9.27% and a return on equity of 14.82%. The business had revenue of $3.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.54 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Corning Incorporated will post 1.96 EPS for the current year.

Corning Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This is a boost from Corning’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 27th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.41%. Corning’s payout ratio is presently 72.73%.

About Corning

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Corning, Inc engages in the provision of glass for notebook computers, flat panel desktop monitors, display televisions, and other information display applications, carrier network and enterprise network products for the telecommunications industry, ceramic substrates for gasoline and diesel engines in automotive and heavy-duty vehicle markets, laboratory products for the scientific community and polymer products for biotechnology applications, optical materials for the semiconductor industry and the scientific community, and polycrystalline silicon products and other technologies.