Rhumbline Advisers Sells 8,099 Shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Rhumbline Advisers lessened its stake in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 1.7% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 477,582 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 8,099 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers’ holdings in Cognex were worth $22,332,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Cognex by 986.2% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,619,007 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $68,679,000 after buying an additional 1,469,961 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Cognex in the 4th quarter worth $58,641,000. Swedbank AB bought a new position in Cognex in the 1st quarter worth $58,502,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Cognex by 41.4% during the first quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 3,716,623 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $157,659,000 after purchasing an additional 1,088,095 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in Cognex by 29.0% in the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,663,900 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $113,722,000 after buying an additional 598,207 shares in the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cognex

In related news, Director Dianne M. Parrotte bought 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $38.62 per share, with a total value of $77,240.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 11,340 shares in the company, valued at approximately $437,950.80. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Dennis Fehr purchased 6,570 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $38.04 per share, with a total value of $249,922.80. Following the purchase, the chief financial officer now owns 6,570 shares in the company, valued at $249,922.80. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Dianne M. Parrotte purchased 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $38.62 per share, for a total transaction of $77,240.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 11,340 shares in the company, valued at approximately $437,950.80. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on CGNX. DA Davidson reduced their target price on shares of Cognex from $41.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 5th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on shares of Cognex from $48.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Vertical Research initiated coverage on shares of Cognex in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $58.00 price objective on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Cognex from $45.00 to $39.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com raised Cognex from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $49.62.

Cognex Price Performance

Shares of CGNX opened at $38.23 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.91 and a beta of 1.42. Cognex Co. has a 1 year low of $34.28 and a 1 year high of $53.13. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $43.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $43.29.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $239.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $240.33 million. Cognex had a net margin of 9.29% and a return on equity of 4.97%. The business’s revenue was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.32 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Cognex Co. will post 0.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were paid a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.78%. Cognex’s payout ratio is currently 51.72%.

Cognex Company Profile

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.