Bank of America Raises Corning (NYSE:GLW) Price Target to $68.00

Corning (NYSE:GLW) had its price objective hoisted by equities research analysts at Bank of America from $65.00 to $68.00 in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the electronics maker’s stock. Bank of America‘s target price points to a potential upside of 39.75% from the stock’s current price.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on GLW. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Corning from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Corning from $55.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Corning from $53.00 to $52.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Corning from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Corning from $39.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Corning currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $54.31.

Corning Stock Performance

Shares of GLW stock opened at $48.66 on Wednesday. Corning has a one year low of $30.72 and a one year high of $55.33. The company’s 50-day moving average is $49.88 and its 200 day moving average is $47.63. The company has a market capitalization of $41.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 83.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.62.

Corning (NYSE:GLW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The electronics maker reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.56 by $0.01. Corning had a net margin of 3.86% and a return on equity of 15.10%. Sell-side analysts expect that Corning will post 2.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Corning news, COO Eric S. Musser sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.92, for a total transaction of $1,557,600.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 152,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,940,852.48. This trade represents a 16.40 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Michael Alan Bell sold 2,209 shares of the firm’s 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.45% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Corning

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GLW. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Corning by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 99,903,247 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $4,747,402,000 after buying an additional 916,528 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Corning by 0.3% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 39,225,452 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,771,029,000 after buying an additional 133,214 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Corning by 3.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,983,090 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,534,337,000 after buying an additional 1,242,718 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Corning by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 18,470,610 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $875,633,000 after buying an additional 533,686 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Corning by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,870,375 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $516,560,000 after buying an additional 208,826 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.80% of the company’s stock.

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.