Cognex Corporation $CGNX Shares Bought by Pictet Asset Management Holding SA

Key Points

• Pictet Asset Management raised its stake in Cognex by 27.9% in Q4 to 7,013,184 shares (4.18% ownership), worth about $252.36 million.
• Cognex beat quarterly estimates with EPS of $0.27 (vs. $0.22 expected) and revenue of $252.34 million (vs. $238.92M), a 9.9% year‑over‑year revenue increase.
• Corporate insiders have been net sellers—196,083 shares (~$11.42 million) sold in the last 90 days—while institutional investors own about 88.12% of the stock.

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its stake in Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX - Free Report) by 27.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,013,184 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,529,010 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA owned 4.18% of Cognex worth $252,360,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Cognex by 13.3% in the third quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 318,984 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $14,450,000 after buying an additional 37,405 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in shares of Cognex by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,101,583 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $292,224,000 after buying an additional 76,212 shares during the last quarter. IMC Chicago LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cognex in the third quarter valued at about $5,761,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Cognex by 43.9% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,024,355 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $137,003,000 after buying an additional 922,149 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DAVENPORT & Co LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cognex by 19.1% in the fourth quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 477,658 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $17,186,000 after buying an additional 76,540 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.12% of the company's stock.

Cognex Price Performance

NASDAQ CGNX opened at $54.26 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 80.99 and a beta of 1.47. Cognex Corporation has a 52-week low of $25.70 and a 52-week high of $59.88. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $52.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $44.57.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $252.34 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $238.92 million. Cognex had a net margin of 11.51% and a return on equity of 9.02%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.16 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Cognex Corporation will post 0.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Robert Willett sold 177,052 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.39, for a total transaction of $10,338,066.28. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Angelos Papadimitriou sold 4,150 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 16,222 shares of the company's stock, valued at $901,618.76. This represents a 20.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 196,083 shares of company stock valued at $11,419,321 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.70% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on CGNX shares. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Cognex in a report on Thursday, February 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Cognex from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $55.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, March 9th. DA Davidson set a $55.00 target price on shares of Cognex and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Cognex in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Cognex from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, April 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $57.62.

Cognex Company Profile

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.