ProShare Advisors LLC Sells 1,973 Shares of Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW)

ProShare Advisors LLC lessened its stake in Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 313,375 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 1,973 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in Corning were worth $14,892,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Barclays PLC raised its stake in Corning by 8.5% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,892,946 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $85,468,000 after buying an additional 148,042 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital bought a new position in shares of Corning in the fourth quarter worth $210,000. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Corning by 53.8% in the fourth quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,871 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $564,000 after acquiring an additional 4,154 shares during the period. Oak Thistle LLC bought a new stake in Corning during the fourth quarter valued at $373,000. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its stake in Corning by 26.5% during the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 9,212 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $438,000 after buying an additional 1,927 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 69.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GLW has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Corning from $58.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Corning from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Barclays reduced their price target on Corning from $53.00 to $52.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. HSBC upgraded Corning from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $51.00 to $60.00 in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Corning from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Corning presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $53.08.

Insider Transactions at Corning

In other news, VP John Z. Zhang sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.91, for a total transaction of $375,280.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 9,610 shares in the company, valued at $450,805.10. This trade represents a 45.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Michael Alan Bell sold 20,262 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.06, for a total transaction of $892,743.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Corning Stock Performance

GLW stock opened at $48.25 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $41.33 billion, a PE ratio of 83.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.09. Corning Incorporated has a 12-month low of $35.12 and a 12-month high of $55.33. The company has a current ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $44.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $47.51.

Corning (NYSE:GLW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The electronics maker reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $3.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.63 billion. Corning had a return on equity of 15.10% and a net margin of 3.86%. The company’s revenue was up 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.38 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Corning Incorporated will post 2.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Corning Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be paid a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.32%. Corning’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 215.38%.

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.