Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) Short Interest Down 6.9% in October

Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest in October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 11,160,000 shares, a decrease of 6.9% from the September 30th total of 11,990,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 5,100,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.2 days. Currently, 1.4% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in 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 worth $566,941,000 after purchasing an additional 4,464,893 shares during the period. Natixis increased its position in shares of Corning by 2,405.2% during the first quarter. Natixis now owns 1,807,801 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $59,585,000 after acquiring an additional 1,735,638 shares during the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC increased its holdings in Corning by 4,306.9% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 1,050,463 shares of the electronics maker’s stock worth $47,428,000 after purchasing an additional 1,026,626 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund raised its holdings in Corning by 10,626.4% in the first quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 1,013,000 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $33,388,000 after acquiring an additional 1,003,556 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Shellback Capital LP acquired a new stake in shares of Corning in the 2nd quarter valued at about $34,483,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on GLW shares. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Corning from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Corning from $49.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Argus raised their price objective on Corning from $40.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Corning from $46.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, StockNews.com raised Corning from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $50.08.

Corning Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GLW opened at $48.36 on Friday. Corning has a 52 week low of $26.71 and a 52 week high of $51.03. The stock has a market cap of $41.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 284.47, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $44.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $40.33.

Corning (NYSE:GLW) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The electronics maker reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $3.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.72 billion. Corning had a return on equity of 13.45% and a net margin of 1.24%. Corning’s revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.45 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Corning will post 1.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Corning Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 13th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.32%. Corning’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 658.82%.

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.