John G Ullman & Associates Inc. Sells 54,975 Shares of Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW)

Key Points

• John G Ullman & Associates Inc. reduced its stake in Corning Incorporated by 8.9%, selling 54,975 shares during the 1st quarter, which now represents 4.0% of their investment portfolio.
• Corning's recent quarterly earnings exceeded expectations, with an EPS of $0.54 and revenue of $3.68 billion, reflecting a 12.9% year-over-year increase.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.28 per share, with a yield of 2.02%, and insiders have sold a total of 75,796 shares recently.

John G Ullman & Associates Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW - Free Report) by 8.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 565,932 shares of the electronics maker's stock after selling 54,975 shares during the period. Corning makes up 4.0% of John G Ullman & Associates Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. John G Ullman & Associates Inc. owned about 0.07% of Corning worth $25,908,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of GLW. Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Corning in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Putney Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Corning in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Transce3nd LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Corning in the fourth quarter valued at about $39,000. ORG Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Corning by 115.8% in the first quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 887 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 476 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dunhill Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Corning by 77.1% in the fourth quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 905 shares of the electronics maker's stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 394 shares during the period. 69.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on GLW. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on shares of Corning from $58.00 to $55.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. UBS Group raised their price objective 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. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Corning in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. They issued an "outperform" rating for the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Corning from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Corning from $52.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $57.73.

Corning Trading Down 0.6%

GLW traded down $0.36 during trading on Friday, hitting $55.37. 4,717,798 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,971,845. The company has a current ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. Corning Incorporated has a 1 year low of $37.18 and a 1 year high of $56.25. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $51.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $48.71. The firm has a market cap of $47.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 106.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.11.

Corning (NYSE:GLW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The electronics maker reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.03. Corning had a net margin of 3.34% and a return on equity of 16.47%. The company had revenue of $3.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.63 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.38 earnings per share. Corning's revenue for the quarter was up 12.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Corning Incorporated will post 2.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Corning Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 29th will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 29th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.02%. Corning's payout ratio is currently 215.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Corning

In other news, SVP Michael Alan Bell sold 20,262 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were 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 is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Soumya Seetharam sold 14,313 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.01, for a total transaction of $715,793.13. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 31,505 shares in the company, valued at $1,575,565.05. This represents a 31.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 75,796 shares of company stock valued at $3,632,635. 0.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.