Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC Makes New $753,000 Investment in Cognex Corporation $CGNX

Key Points

• Allspring Global Investments bought a new position in Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) in Q4—20,392 shares valued at approximately $753,000.
• Cognex beat quarterly expectations, reporting $0.27 EPS vs. $0.22 expected and revenue of $252.34M (up 9.9% year-over-year); analysts maintain a "Moderate Buy" consensus with a $57 average target and several firms raising targets to $68–$70.
• Insiders sold about 196,083 shares (~$11.42M) in the last quarter, leaving insiders with 1.70% ownership while institutional investors hold roughly 88.12% of the stock.

Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new position in Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 20,392 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock, valued at approximately $753,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its position in shares of Cognex by 12.9% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 2,132 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $68,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its position in shares of Cognex by 1.8% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 14,611 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $662,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its stake in Cognex by 0.6% during the third quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 49,651 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $2,249,000 after buying an additional 285 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio boosted its stake in Cognex by 0.5% during the third quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 54,349 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $2,462,000 after buying an additional 292 shares during the period. Finally, Centaurus Financial Inc. boosted its stake in Cognex by 8.1% during the second quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 4,021 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $128,000 after buying an additional 303 shares during the period. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cognex Price Performance

CGNX opened at $53.41 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $50.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $43.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 79.72 and a beta of 1.47. Cognex Corporation has a one year low of $22.84 and a one year high of $59.88.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.05. Cognex had a return on equity of 9.02% and a net margin of 11.51%.The firm had revenue of $252.34 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $238.92 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.16 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Cognex Corporation will post 0.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 26th were issued a dividend of $0.085 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 26th. This represents a $0.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Cognex's dividend payout ratio is 50.75%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on CGNX. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Cognex in a research note on Monday, December 29th. TD Cowen reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Cognex in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Cognex from $50.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. KeyCorp reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $70.00 price objective (up from $50.00) on shares of Cognex in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $57.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cognex news, Director Angelos Papadimitriou sold 4,150 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.58, for a total transaction of $230,657.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 16,222 shares in the company, valued at approximately $901,618.76. This represents a 20.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert Willett sold 177,052 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.39, for a total value of $10,338,066.28. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 196,083 shares of company stock worth $11,419,321. Company insiders own 1.70% of the company's stock.

About Cognex

Cognex Corporation is a leading provider of machine vision systems, software, sensors and industrial barcode readers used to automate manufacturing, logistics and distribution processes. The company designs and develops vision-based products that help manufacturers and logistics operators inspect, identify and guide parts, assemblies and packaged goods in real time. Its solutions are applied in a broad range of industries, including automotive, electronics, semiconductor, pharmaceutical, food and beverage, and general manufacturing.

The company's product portfolio includes stand-alone vision systems, vision sensors and deep learning-based software platforms that enable automated inspection, quality control and traceability.

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