LMR Partners LLP Purchases 700,442 Shares of Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW)

LMR Partners LLP grew its position in shares of Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) by 140.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,200,442 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after buying an additional 700,442 shares during the quarter. Corning comprises about 0.5% of LMR Partners LLP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position. LMR Partners LLP’s holdings in Corning were worth $57,045,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Barclays PLC raised its position in Corning by 8.5% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,892,946 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $85,468,000 after purchasing an additional 148,042 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of Corning by 48.4% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 191,648 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $8,975,000 after buying an additional 62,514 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Corning by 1.4% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 890,981 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $40,228,000 after buying an additional 12,451 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of Corning by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 65,183 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $3,092,000 after buying an additional 1,571 shares during the period. Finally, Czech National Bank raised its holdings in shares of Corning by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 167,079 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $7,940,000 after acquiring an additional 10,196 shares in the last quarter. 69.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Michael Alan Bell sold 20,262 shares of Corning stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.06, for a total transaction of $892,743.72. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. HSBC raised shares of Corning from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $51.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com lowered Corning from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Corning from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on shares of Corning from $58.00 to $55.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Corning from $58.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Corning has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $53.08.

Corning Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE GLW opened at $45.08 on Monday. Corning Incorporated has a 12-month low of $34.15 and a 12-month high of $55.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $38.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 77.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.09. 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 firm has a 50 day moving average of $44.42 and a 200 day moving average of $47.49.

Corning (NYSE:GLW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The electronics maker reported $0.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $3.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.63 billion. Corning had a net margin of 3.86% and a return on equity of 15.10%. The company’s revenue was up 12.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.38 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Corning Incorporated will post 2.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Corning Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.48%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 30th. Corning’s dividend payout ratio is presently 215.38%.

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.