HM Payson & Co. Sells 240 Shares of Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW)

HM Payson & Co. cut its holdings in Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) by 5.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,563 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 240 shares during the period. HM Payson & Co.’s holdings in Corning were worth $217,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of GLW. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 133,214 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Corning by 3.8% in the 3rd 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. boosted its holdings in Corning by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,937,981 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $234,653,000 after purchasing an additional 84,905 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Corning by 52.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,723,044 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $168,095,000 after purchasing an additional 1,285,836 shares during the period. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Corning by 1.9% in 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 during the period. 69.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on GLW shares. HSBC raised shares of Corning from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $51.00 to $60.00 in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Corning from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Corning from $39.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. StockNews.com cut shares of Corning from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Corning from $53.00 to $52.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $53.00.

Corning Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GLW opened at $45.89 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $39.31 billion, a PE ratio of 79.13, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.03. The company’s fifty day moving average is $50.06 and its 200 day moving average is $47.38. Corning Incorporated has a 52 week low of $30.72 and a 52 week high of $55.33. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62.

Corning (NYSE:GLW) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The electronics maker reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.01. Corning had a net margin of 3.86% and a return on equity of 15.10%. Research analysts anticipate that Corning Incorporated will post 2.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Corning Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. Corning’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 193.10%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Corning news, SVP Michael Alan Bell sold 2,209 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.87, for a total value of $110,162.83. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Eric S. Musser sold 30,000 shares of Corning stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.92, for a total transaction of $1,557,600.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 152,944 shares in the company, valued at $7,940,852.48. The trade was a 16.40 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

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.