Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on Corning (NYSE:GLW)

Key Points

• Corning Incorporated experienced a significant increase in options trading, with investors purchasing 20,025 call options, a 131% rise compared to the usual daily volume.
• The company reported quarterly earnings of $0.60 per share, exceeding analysts' expectations and showing an increase from $0.47 EPS in the previous year.
• Corning recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.28 per share, with a dividend yield of 1.81%, although the payout ratio is notably high at 215.38%.

Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock investors bought 20,025 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 131% compared to the average daily volume of 8,664 call options.

Corning Trading Up 0.9%

Corning stock traded up $0.55 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $62.53. The company had a trading volume of 7,923,138 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,566,009. Corning has a 1-year low of $37.18 and a 1-year high of $63.20. The company has a current ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $52.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $48.97. The stock has a market cap of $53.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 66.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.11.

Corning (NYSE:GLW - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The electronics maker reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.03. Corning had a net margin of 5.77% and a return on equity of 17.27%. The firm had revenue of $3.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.84 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.47 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Corning will post 2.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Corning Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 29th will be given a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 29th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.79%. Corning's dividend payout ratio is presently 215.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Corning

In other news, SVP Stefan Becker sold 17,106 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.68, for a total transaction of $849,826.08. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 16,117 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $800,692.56. This represents a 51.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Soumya Seetharam sold 14,313 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.01, for a total value of $715,793.13. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 31,505 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,575,565.05. The trade was a 31.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 55,534 shares of company stock worth $2,739,891. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Corning

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GLW. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 2,114 shares during the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lifted its position in Corning by 196.0% in the fourth quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 1,033 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 684 shares during the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its position in Corning by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 349,487 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $16,608,000 after acquiring an additional 2,296 shares during the last quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in Corning by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC now owns 11,245 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $534,000 after acquiring an additional 505 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its position in Corning by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 9,441 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $449,000 after acquiring an additional 385 shares during 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 recently weighed in on GLW. Susquehanna raised their price target on shares of Corning from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a research note on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Corning from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Corning from $54.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Corning from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Argus reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $68.00 price target on shares of Corning in a research note on Wednesday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Corning presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $63.25.

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.