Franklin Resources Inc. Has $11.18 Million Stock Holdings in Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW)

Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) by 22.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 235,351 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after buying an additional 43,703 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Corning were worth $11,184,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of GLW. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Corning by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 99,903,247 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $4,747,402,000 after acquiring an additional 916,528 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Corning in the fourth quarter worth $490,933,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Corning by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,937,981 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $234,653,000 after purchasing an additional 84,905 shares during the last quarter. Amundi increased its holdings in Corning by 139.0% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 3,900,808 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $186,186,000 after purchasing an additional 2,268,436 shares during the period. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Corning by 37.9% during the 4th quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 2,312,541 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $109,892,000 after buying an additional 635,028 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 69.80% of the company’s stock.

Corning Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of GLW opened at $39.14 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $48.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $47.90. Corning Incorporated has a twelve month low of $30.72 and a twelve month high of $55.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $33.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 67.48, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62.

Corning (NYSE:GLW) last posted its 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 anticipate that Corning Incorporated will post 2.33 EPS for the current year.

Corning Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th were issued a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.86%. Corning’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 193.10%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Corning

In other news, COO Eric S. Musser sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.92, for a total value of $1,557,600.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 152,944 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,940,852.48. This represents a 16.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Michael Alan Bell sold 2,209 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.87, for a total transaction of $110,162.83. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Corning from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Corning from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Corning from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Hsbc Global Res raised Corning from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, HSBC upgraded Corning from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $51.00 to $60.00 in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $54.31.

Corning 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.