Royce & Associates LP Sells 175,495 Shares of Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Royce & Associates LP lowered its position in shares of Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX - Free Report) by 12.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,204,247 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after selling 175,495 shares during the quarter. Royce & Associates LP owned approximately 0.71% of Cognex worth $35,923,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CGNX. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Cognex by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,479,828 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $662,687,000 after buying an additional 296,251 shares in the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its stake in Cognex by 13.7% during the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 3,820,394 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $136,999,000 after buying an additional 461,724 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Cognex by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 2,256,640 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $80,923,000 after purchasing an additional 25,492 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Cognex by 1.9% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,131,538 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $63,584,000 after acquiring an additional 38,857 shares during the period. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its position in Cognex by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,038,345 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $73,095,000 after buying an additional 177,324 shares during the period. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cognex Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CGNX traded down $0.09 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $34.08. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,263,007 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,692,515. Cognex Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $22.67 and a fifty-two week high of $50.78. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $31.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $31.84. The company has a market capitalization of $5.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 50.12 and a beta of 1.47.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th were issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 15th. Cognex's dividend payout ratio is 47.06%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Cognex from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, June 16th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Cognex from $56.00 to $53.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Cowen raised Cognex from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Citigroup reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $37.00 target price (up from $30.00) on shares of Cognex in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on shares of Cognex from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cognex currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $40.25.

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.