Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV Buys Shares of 80,557 Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW)

Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV bought a new stake in Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 80,557 shares of the electronics maker’s stock, valued at approximately $3,688,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GLW. Tallon Kerry Patrick purchased a new position in shares of Corning in the fourth quarter valued at $302,000. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in shares of Corning by 46.0% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,705 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $319,000 after buying an additional 2,114 shares in the last quarter. Stephens Inc. AR increased its position in shares of Corning by 8.5% in the fourth quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 16,191 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $769,000 after buying an additional 1,263 shares in the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Corning by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 29,359 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,395,000 after buying an additional 1,640 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Focus Financial Network Inc. increased its position in shares of Corning by 13.0% in the fourth quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 10,680 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $508,000 after buying an additional 1,232 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on GLW. Citigroup dropped their price target on Corning from $58.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on Corning from $58.00 to $55.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Corning from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Mizuho set a $52.00 price objective on Corning in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Corning from $62.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $53.08.

Corning Stock Down 2.5%

GLW opened at $49.54 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 1.62 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 85.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.11. The business has a 50-day moving average of $46.19 and a two-hundred day moving average of $47.77. Corning Incorporated has a 12 month low of $37.05 and a 12 month high of $55.33.

Corning (NYSE:GLW) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $3.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 previous year, the company posted $0.38 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Corning Incorporated will post 2.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Corning Dividend Announcement

The company 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. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.26%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. Corning’s dividend payout ratio is currently 215.38%.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP John Z. Zhang sold 8,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.91, for a total transaction of $375,280.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 9,610 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $450,805.10. The trade was a 45.43% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Soumya Seetharam sold 6,505 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.01, for a total value of $325,315.05. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 25,000 shares in the company, valued at $1,250,250. This trade represents a 20.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 75,796 shares of company stock valued at $3,632,635 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Corning Company 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.