Lafayette Investments Inc. Sells 1,555 Shares of Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW)

Lafayette Investments Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) by 2.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 70,518 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 1,555 shares during the quarter. Lafayette Investments Inc.’s holdings in Corning were worth $3,351,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of GLW. Sound Income Strategies LLC boosted its stake in shares of Corning by 76.7% in the 4th quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 523 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares in the last quarter. Sierra Ocean LLC bought a new stake in Corning during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Asset Planning Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Corning during the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton boosted its holdings in shares of Corning by 202.4% in the 4th quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 747 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mainstream Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Corning during the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Michael Alan Bell sold 2,209 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.87, for a total transaction 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 the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.92, for a total value of $1,557,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 152,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,940,852.48. This trade represents a 16.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on GLW. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Corning from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Corning from $39.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Corning from $53.00 to $52.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Corning from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Corning from $58.00 to $50.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Four 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $53.69.

Corning Stock Performance

GLW opened at $41.57 on Tuesday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $35.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 71.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.03. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $47.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $47.78. Corning Incorporated has a 1 year low of $30.72 and a 1 year high of $55.33.

Corning (NYSE:GLW) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The electronics maker reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. Equities 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 was paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.69%. Corning’s payout ratio is 193.10%.

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.