Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 13,642 Shares of Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW)

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) by 1.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 877,339 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 13,642 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.10% of Corning worth $41,691,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Sound Income Strategies LLC raised 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 during the period. Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Corning in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Asset Planning Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Corning in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton raised its stake in shares of Corning by 202.4% in the 4th quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 747 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the period. Finally, JFS Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Corning by 171.8% in the 4th quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 810 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 512 shares during the period. 69.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on GLW shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Corning from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com raised Corning from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on Corning from $49.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Corning from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, HSBC raised Corning from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $51.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $53.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Corning news, COO Eric S. Musser sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.92, for a total transaction of $1,557,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 152,944 shares in the company, valued at $7,940,852.48. This represents a 16.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Michael Alan Bell sold 2,209 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.87, for a total value of $110,162.83. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 41,085 shares of company stock worth $2,103,486 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Corning Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of GLW stock opened at $51.46 on Friday. 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 stock has a market cap of $44.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 88.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.03. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $49.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $46.61. Corning Incorporated has a 1 year low of $30.72 and a 1 year high of $55.33.

Corning (NYSE:GLW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The electronics maker reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.01. Corning had a return on equity of 15.10% and a net margin of 3.86%. On average, research analysts predict that Corning Incorporated will post 2.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Corning Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. Corning’s payout ratio is presently 193.11%.

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.