Cognex Corporation $CGNX Stock Position Boosted by Algert Global LLC

Key Points

• Algert Global LLC boosted its stake in Cognex by 73.3% in Q3 to 165,337 shares (about 0.10% of the company) valued at roughly $7.49 million, against a backdrop of heavy institutional ownership (88.12%).
• Wall Street sentiment is turning more positive with multiple upgrades and higher targets (Needham $67, KeyCorp $70, Barclays $64) and a MarketBeat consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with a $57 target price.
• Cognex recently beat quarterly expectations (EPS $0.27 vs $0.22; revenue $252.3M vs $238.9M), reporting revenue up 9.9% year-over-year and a market cap of about $8.21 billion.

Algert Global LLC raised its stake in shares of Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX - Free Report) by 73.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 165,337 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after buying an additional 69,950 shares during the period. Algert Global LLC owned approximately 0.10% of Cognex worth $7,490,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Cognex by 2.1% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,598,728 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $842,522,000 after acquiring an additional 374,999 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in Cognex by 13.4% in the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,025,371 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $361,382,000 after purchasing an additional 949,599 shares during the period. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN boosted its stake in Cognex by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 4,768,716 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $151,264,000 after purchasing an additional 40,927 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Cognex by 43.9% during the 3rd 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 purchasing an additional 922,149 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC increased its position in shares of Cognex by 17.9% during the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 2,724,331 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $86,416,000 after purchasing an additional 413,088 shares during the period. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on CGNX. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on Cognex from $47.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. KeyCorp reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $70.00 target price (up from $50.00) on shares of Cognex in a report on Friday, February 13th. Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of Cognex from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Cognex from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Cognex from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $57.00.

Cognex Stock Up 3.3%

Shares of NASDAQ CGNX opened at $49.56 on Tuesday. Cognex Corporation has a 12 month low of $22.67 and a 12 month high of $59.88. The company has a market cap of $8.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 73.97 and a beta of 1.45. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $46.57 and a 200-day simple moving average of $43.22.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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. The firm had revenue of $252.34 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $238.92 million. Cognex had a return on equity of 9.02% and a net margin of 11.51%.Cognex's revenue was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.16 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Cognex Corporation will post 0.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 26th were given a $0.085 dividend. This represents a $0.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 26th. Cognex's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.75%.

Insider Transactions at Cognex

In related news, VP Laura Ann Macdonald sold 14,881 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.16, for a total value of $850,597.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 2,212 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $126,437.92. This trade represents a 87.06% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Angelos Papadimitriou sold 4,150 shares of Cognex 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. The trade was a 20.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 196,083 shares of company stock valued at $11,419,321 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company's stock.

Cognex 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.

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