Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Cuts Stake in Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW)

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) by 14.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,698,520 shares of the electronics maker’s stock after selling 442,551 shares during the period. Bahl & Gaynor Inc.’s holdings in Corning were worth $104,837,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GLW. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Corning by 9.0% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 31,312,779 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $953,474,000 after buying an additional 2,597,878 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Corning by 35.1% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 17,200,828 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $566,941,000 after acquiring an additional 4,464,893 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Corning in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $247,721,000. FIL Ltd boosted its stake in Corning by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 7,179,283 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $218,609,000 after purchasing an additional 105,994 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in Corning by 41.7% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 6,212,356 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $189,166,000 after purchasing an additional 1,828,097 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.80% of the company’s stock.

Corning Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GLW opened at $41.16 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.57 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $35.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.97, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.04. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $41.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.98. Corning Incorporated has a 12 month low of $25.26 and a 12 month high of $46.39.

Corning (NYSE:GLW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The electronics maker reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $3.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.55 billion. Corning had a net margin of 3.53% and a return on equity of 12.69%. The firm’s revenue was up 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.45 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Corning Incorporated will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

Corning Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 27th. Investors of record on Friday, August 30th will be issued a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 30th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.72%. Corning’s payout ratio is 157.75%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Corning from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $47.00 target price (down previously from $50.00) on shares of Corning in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Corning from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Corning from $47.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $39.00 target price on shares of Corning in a report on Friday, July 26th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.62.

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.