Should You Buy Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW)?

Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) shareholders have witnessed an increase in hedge fund interest in recent months.

To the average investor, there are plenty of metrics shareholders can use to analyze their holdings. A duo of the most under-the-radar are hedge fund and insider trading interest. At Insider Monkey, our research analyses have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the elite fund managers can beat their index-focused peers by a healthy margin (see just how much).

Just as beneficial, positive insider trading activity is a second way to parse down the stock market universe. Just as you’d expect, there are many reasons for a bullish insider to cut shares of his or her company, but only one, very obvious reason why they would initiate a purchase. Various empirical studies have demonstrated the valuable potential of this method if piggybackers know what to do (learn more here).

Now, let’s take a peek at the recent action surrounding Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW).

What does the smart money think about Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW)?

Heading into 2013, a total of 39 of the hedge funds we track were bullish in this stock, a change of 11% from the third quarter. With hedgies’ capital changing hands, there exists an “upper tier” of notable hedge fund managers who were increasing their stakes substantially.

According to our comprehensive database, Yacktman Asset Management, managed by Donald Yacktman, holds the biggest position in Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW). Yacktman Asset Management has a $184 million position in the stock, comprising 1.1% of its 13F portfolio. Sitting at the No. 2 spot is Orbis Investment Management, managed by William B. Gray, which held a $89 million position; 0.2% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the stock. Some other hedgies with similar optimism include Richard Chilton’s Chilton Investment Company, John A. Levin’s Levin Capital Strategies and Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital.

As aggregate interest increased, key money managers have jumped into Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) headfirst. Arrowstreet Capital, managed by Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell, created the largest position in Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW). Arrowstreet Capital had 37 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Jeffrey Vinik’s Vinik Asset Management also initiated a $24 million position during the quarter. The other funds with brand new GLW positions are Israel Englander’s Millennium Management, Glenn Russell Dubin’s Highbridge Capital Management, and Kelly Cardwell’s Central Square Management.

Insider trading activity in Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW)

Insider purchases made by high-level executives is most useful when the company we’re looking at has seen transactions within the past half-year. Over the latest six-month time frame, Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) has seen 2 unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

With the results shown by our tactics, retail investors must always watch hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) is an important part of this process.

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