Bayforest Capital Ltd Takes $227,000 Position in Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Key Points

• Bayforest Capital Ltd acquired 7,601 shares of Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ: CGNX), totaling approximately $227,000, as indicated in their recent Form 13F filing.
• Cognex reported earnings of $0.25 EPS for the last quarter, surpassing analyst expectations, and saw a 4.2% increase in revenue compared to the same quarter last year.
• An upcoming quarterly dividend of $0.08 per share has been declared, representing a 0.8% yield and is set to be paid on August 28th.

Bayforest Capital Ltd bought a new stake in Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 7,601 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock, valued at approximately $227,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Centaurus Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of Cognex by 16.0% in the 4th quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 3,267 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $117,000 after buying an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina increased its stake in Cognex by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 75,575 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $2,710,000 after purchasing an additional 470 shares in the last quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Cognex by 7.4% during the 1st quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,698 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $230,000 after purchasing an additional 532 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Cognex by 155.3% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,062 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 646 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in Cognex by 105.5% during the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,280 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 657 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.12% of the company's stock.

Cognex Trading Down 1.4%

CGNX traded down $0.58 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $41.28. 1,495,094 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,111,286. The company has a market cap of $6.93 billion, a PE ratio of 57.97 and a beta of 1.47. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $32.70 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $31.83. Cognex Corporation has a 1 year low of $22.67 and a 1 year high of $44.17.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $249.09 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $246.70 million. Cognex had a net margin of 13.13% and a return on equity of 6.65%. Cognex's revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.23 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Cognex Corporation will post 0.61 EPS for the current year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 14th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. Cognex's dividend payout ratio is presently 45.07%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on the company. UBS Group increased their target price on Cognex from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Cognex from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $35.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Cognex from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, June 16th. KeyCorp raised shares of Cognex from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $50.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of Cognex from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $42.31.

Cognex 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.