Investors Buy High Volume of Corning Call Options (NYSE:GLW)

Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Stock traders purchased 29,948 call options on the company. This is an increase of 20% compared to the average volume of 25,035 call options.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Eric S. Musser sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.00, for a total value of $2,750,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 19,926 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,191,860. This represents a 55.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Li Fang sold 9,797 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.51, for a total value of $1,112,057.47. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 55,945 shares of company stock valued at $6,072,986. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Corning

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital Research Global Investors acquired a new stake in Corning in the third quarter valued at approximately $907,164,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Corning during the 2nd quarter worth about $534,936,000. WCM Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Corning in the 3rd quarter valued at $676,931,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Corning by 30.3% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 16,557,489 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $1,358,211,000 after purchasing an additional 3,848,540 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Voya Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Corning by 748.0% in the third quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 3,169,741 shares of the electronics maker’s stock valued at $260,014,000 after purchasing an additional 2,795,948 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 69.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on GLW. Argus lifted their price objective on Corning from $68.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Corning from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Zacks Research lowered Corning from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 21st. Mizuho upped their target price on Corning from $97.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Finally, Susquehanna increased their price objective on shares of Corning from $100.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $112.36.

Corning Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GLW traded up $7.19 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $129.35. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 10,331,464 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,607,884. The company has a market capitalization of $110.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 70.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 1.13. Corning has a fifty-two week low of $37.31 and a fifty-two week high of $132.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 1.59 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $92.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $82.44.

Corning (NYSE:GLW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 28th. The electronics maker reported $0.72 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.71 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $4.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.35 billion. Corning had a net margin of 10.21% and a return on equity of 18.72%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.57 EPS. Corning has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 0.660-0.700 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Corning will post 2.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Corning

Corning Incorporated is a global manufacturer specializing in specialty glass, ceramics and related materials and technologies. Headquartered in Corning, New York, the company supplies engineered materials and components used across multiple industries, including consumer electronics, telecommunications, automotive emissions control, pharmaceutical and life sciences, and industrial and scientific applications. Corning emphasizes materials science and precision manufacturing to develop durable, high-performance glass and ceramic products.

Key product lines include specialty display glass used by television and mobile-device manufacturers, cover glass marketed under well-known trade names for smartphones and tablets, and optical fiber and cable and related hardware for telecommunications networks.