Corning Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:GLW)

Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Investors acquired 27,802 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 136% compared to the average daily volume of 11,771 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on GLW shares. Mizuho boosted their target price on Corning from $36.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 18th. Fox Advisors raised shares of Corning from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $45.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, June 17th. HSBC upgraded shares of Corning from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $37.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $50.00 price target (up from $40.00) on shares of Corning in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Corning from $39.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $43.38.

Corning Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE GLW opened at $43.95 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a current ratio of 1.67. The company has a market capitalization of $37.65 billion, a PE ratio of 61.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.05. Corning has a 1 year low of $25.26 and a 1 year high of $46.39. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $39.55 and its 200 day moving average price is $34.75.

Corning (NYSE:GLW) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The electronics maker reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.02. Corning had a return on equity of 12.31% and a net margin of 4.96%. The company had revenue of $2.98 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.12 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.41 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Corning will post 1.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Corning Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, August 30th will be given a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 29th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.55%. Corning’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 157.75%.

Insider Activity at Corning

In other Corning news, SVP John Z. Zhang sold 12,546 shares of Corning stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.42, for a total transaction of $419,287.32. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 11,355 shares in the company, valued at $379,484.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Corning news, SVP John Z. Zhang sold 12,546 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.42, for a total transaction of $419,287.32. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 11,355 shares in the company, valued at approximately $379,484.10. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Lewis A. Steverson sold 29,978 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.05, for a total value of $990,772.90. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 31,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,034,266.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 175,207 shares of company stock worth $5,876,067 in the last 90 days. 0.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Corning

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bridgefront Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Corning during the fourth quarter worth $813,000. Natixis Advisors L.P. boosted its stake in Corning by 29.6% in the fourth quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 131,323 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $3,998,000 after acquiring an additional 30,001 shares during the period. Wahed Invest LLC boosted its position in shares of Corning by 8.6% during the fourth quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 12,982 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $395,000 after buying an additional 1,028 shares during the period. Belpointe Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Corning by 26.4% during the fourth quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 8,322 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $253,000 after purchasing an additional 1,740 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Socha Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Corning by 8.8% in the fourth quarter. Socha Financial Group LLC now owns 343,624 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $10,463,000 after buying an additional 27,772 shares in the last quarter. 69.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.