Texas Permanent School Fund Corp Has $7.85 Million Holdings in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Texas Permanent School Fund Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 11.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 167,923 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after buying an additional 17,266 shares during the quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp owned about 0.10% of Cognex worth $7,852,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of CGNX. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV grew its holdings in Cognex by 94.4% during the 1st quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 589 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 286 shares during the period. Rise Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Cognex by 1,239.7% during the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 777 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 719 shares during the period. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S increased its holdings in Cognex by 303.1% in the first quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 770 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 579 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Cognex by 276.1% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,087 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 798 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. bought a new position in Cognex during the fourth quarter worth about $56,000. 88.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Cognex from $46.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Cognex from $55.00 to $46.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of Cognex from $45.00 to $39.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cognex from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, DA Davidson reduced their target price on Cognex from $41.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $49.62.

Cognex Price Performance

CGNX stock opened at $37.85 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $43.59 and a 200-day moving average of $43.30. Cognex Co. has a fifty-two week low of $34.28 and a fifty-two week high of $53.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 65.26 and a beta of 1.41.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.03. Cognex had a return on equity of 4.97% and a net margin of 9.29%. The firm had revenue of $239.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $240.33 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.32 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Cognex Co. will post 0.42 EPS for the current year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were given a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.79%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.72%.

Insider Activity

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

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.