Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) Shares Purchased by Xponance Inc.

Xponance Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 6.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 23,472 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,433 shares during the period. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Cognex were worth $842,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. William Blair Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Cognex by 27.3% in the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 5,840,117 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $209,427,000 after acquiring an additional 1,253,996 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in Cognex by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,190,365 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $210,210,000 after buying an additional 42,882 shares during the last quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN increased its position in Cognex by 8.9% in the third quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 3,751,807 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $151,948,000 after buying an additional 305,913 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Cognex by 5.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,608,028 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $146,157,000 after buying an additional 175,423 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 122.7% during the third quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,834,755 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $114,808,000 after acquiring an additional 1,562,115 shares during the period. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on CGNX shares. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Cognex to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. HSBC downgraded Cognex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $33.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Truist Financial reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $37.00 price target (down previously from $43.00) on shares of Cognex in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Cognex from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $44.83.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cognex

In other Cognex news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.73, for a total transaction of $222,662.19. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 4,566 shares in the company, valued at approximately $149,445.18. The trade was a 59.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Price Performance

NASDAQ CGNX opened at $31.57 on Tuesday. Cognex Co. has a 12 month low of $30.04 and a 12 month high of $53.13. The company has a market capitalization of $5.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.75 and a beta of 1.43. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $35.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.70.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.15 by ($0.01). Cognex had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 5.65%. On average, analysts anticipate that Cognex Co. will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.01%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.46%.

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.