Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) Stock Position Increased by Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its position in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,929 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,110 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings in Cognex were worth $807,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in Cognex by 986.2% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,619,007 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $68,679,000 after buying an additional 1,469,961 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of Cognex in the first quarter worth $58,502,000. Impax Asset Management Group plc increased its holdings in shares of Cognex by 32.8% during the second quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 5,098,711 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $237,812,000 after purchasing an additional 1,259,116 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of 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, Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in Cognex by 132.0% in the second quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,272,640 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $59,509,000 after purchasing an additional 723,976 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Price Performance

Cognex stock opened at $39.23 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $6.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 67.64 and a beta of 1.41. Cognex Co. has a fifty-two week low of $34.28 and a fifty-two week high of $53.13. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $39.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $43.02.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.03. Cognex had a net margin of 9.29% and a return on equity of 4.97%. The company had revenue of $239.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $240.33 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.32 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Cognex Co. will post 0.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th were given a dividend of $0.075 per share. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. Cognex’s payout ratio is presently 51.72%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Cognex from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Cognex from $46.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Stephens upgraded Cognex from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $45.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Truist Financial lowered their price target on Cognex from $55.00 to $46.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Cognex from $45.00 to $39.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $50.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Dennis Fehr bought 6,570 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $38.04 per share, with a total value of $249,922.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 6,570 shares in the company, valued at approximately $249,922.80. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Cognex news, CFO Dennis Fehr bought 6,570 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was bought 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 directly owns 6,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $249,922.80. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Dianne M. Parrotte purchased 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $38.62 per share, for a total transaction of $77,240.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 11,340 shares in the company, valued at $437,950.80. The trade was a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is currently 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.