Northern Trust Corp Boosts Stake in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX - Free Report) by 21.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,741,196 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after purchasing an additional 307,385 shares during the quarter. Northern Trust Corp owned 1.02% of Cognex worth $62,439,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CGNX. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Cognex by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,427,756 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $51,199,000 after acquiring an additional 42,292 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in Cognex by 75.1% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,870 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $102,000 after acquiring an additional 1,231 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank increased its stake in Cognex by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 337,300 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $12,096,000 after purchasing an additional 2,200 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cognex during the fourth quarter worth $267,000. Finally, Covea Finance increased its stake in Cognex by 54.7% in the 4th quarter. Covea Finance now owns 73,500 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $2,636,000 after buying an additional 26,000 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.12% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Cognex from $37.00 to $29.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Needham & Company LLC cut their price target on Cognex from $41.00 to $33.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Cognex from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $35.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, April 28th. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Cognex from $37.00 to $26.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Stephens restated an "overweight" rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Cognex in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $39.17.

Cognex Stock Up 6.0%

Shares of Cognex stock traded up $1.76 on Monday, reaching $31.23. 202,759 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,541,444. Cognex Co. has a twelve month low of $22.67 and a twelve month high of $53.13. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $28.13 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $34.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.27 and a beta of 1.45.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.15 by ($0.01). Cognex had a return on equity of 5.65% and a net margin of 11.61%. Research analysts forecast that Cognex Co. will post 0.61 EPS for the current year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.02%. Cognex's payout ratio is currently 47.06%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cognex news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.73, for a total value of $222,662.19. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 4,566 shares in the company, valued at $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 available through the SEC website. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.