Corning insiders sold $28M in shares

Insiders were prevented from selling ahead of warning on softening demand; the company saw larger than normal sales after lowered guidance and stock price drop.
NEW YORK -- Insiders at Corning sold almost $28 million in company stock earlier this month, according to a published report, in part because they were not allowed to sell shares in April.
The Wall Street Journal reported the sales, citing filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and insider sales tracker Washington Service. It said the filings show 11 officers and directors sold 1.49 million shares starting Aug. 2 for an average price of $18.57 a share, or a total of about $27.7 million. Over the last 12 months Edgar Online reports insiders sold 7.37 million shares.
Corning (Charts) spokesman Daniel Collins told the paper the company normally opens a window every quarter when insiders are allowed to sell their shares. But it did not open such a window in April because it knew of a softening demand for optical fiber and glass used in LCDs, which had not yet been disclosed to the markets.
It lowered its forecast for sales in that segment, citing an inventory build-up, when it released second quarter results after the market close July 25. Shares of Corning fell 14 percent the next day, even as Corning reported better than expected results, due to that lower sales and profit guidance. Shares have since rebounded and closed Tuesday unchanged at $20.55.
Collins told the paper that with the coming LCD warning, "it was inappropriate for us to open the trading window for our executives, so we did not." He said the lack of an April sales window perhaps played a role in the higher insider sales in August.
"If they were going to sell every quarter, they missed a quarter. So now you're seeing perhaps higher-than-normal sales, not because of any issue other than the fact that they were not able to sell previously," he told the paper.
Most of the sales took place in connection with the exercise of stock options that weren't set to expire for several years, the Journal reported. CEO Wendell Weeks sold the most stock, with 464,024 sold during the August window, according to the paper.