Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) Position Boosted by Vanguard Group Inc.

Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 1.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,334,064 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after buying an additional 203,149 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 10.10% of Cognex worth $723,524,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of CGNX. Contour Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cognex during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $11,454,000. Brown Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Cognex by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Brown Capital Management LLC now owns 5,419,313 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $226,202,000 after acquiring an additional 262,003 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in Cognex in the fourth quarter worth about $12,417,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in Cognex by 237.0% in the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 53,049 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $2,214,000 after acquiring an additional 37,306 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Cognex by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,295,729 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $54,084,000 after acquiring an additional 61,890 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Price Performance

Shares of CGNX opened at $47.91 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $44.42 and its 200-day moving average is $41.26. The company has a market capitalization of $8.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 82.60 and a beta of 1.45. Cognex Co. has a fifty-two week low of $34.28 and a fifty-two week high of $59.51.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Cognex had a net margin of 11.76% and a return on equity of 6.81%. The company had revenue of $210.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $198.14 million. Equities research analysts expect that Cognex Co. will post 0.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th were issued a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.63%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is 51.72%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price objective (up previously from $47.00) on shares of Cognex in a report on Tuesday, May 7th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Cognex from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on shares of Cognex from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Cognex from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Cognex from $36.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, May 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Cognex presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $49.15.

About Cognex

Cognex Corporation provides machine vision products that capture and analyze visual information to automate manufacturing and distribution tasks worldwide. Its machine vision products are used to automate the manufacturing and tracking of discrete items, including mobile phones, electric vehicle batteries, and e-commerce packages by locating, identifying, inspecting, and measuring them during the manufacturing or distribution process.