Allianz Asset Management GmbH Grows Position in Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its position in shares of Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX - Free Report) by 52.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 148,636 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after purchasing an additional 51,366 shares during the quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH owned 0.09% of Cognex worth $4,434,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Welch & Forbes LLC grew its stake in shares of Cognex by 1.6% in the first quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC now owns 330,342 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $9,854,000 after acquiring an additional 5,077 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in shares of Cognex by 431.7% in the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,462 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $73,000 after acquiring an additional 1,999 shares during the period. Slow Capital Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 6.1% in the first quarter. Slow Capital Inc. now owns 64,048 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $1,911,000 after buying an additional 3,698 shares during the last quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 1.1% in the first quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 1,038,843 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $30,989,000 after buying an additional 11,137 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stephens Inc. AR boosted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 44.6% in the first quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 23,278 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $694,000 after buying an additional 7,182 shares during the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on CGNX. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on shares of Cognex from $36.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Citigroup reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $37.00 price objective (up previously from $30.00) on shares of Cognex in a report on Monday, July 14th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Cognex from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, June 16th. Melius raised shares of Cognex from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $60.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of Cognex from $37.00 to $29.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $41.69.

Cognex Stock Performance

Shares of Cognex stock traded down $0.16 on Friday, hitting $40.61. 1,497,343 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,090,447. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.37 and a beta of 1.47. Cognex Corporation has a 52 week low of $22.67 and a 52 week high of $44.17. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $31.81 and a 200 day simple moving average of $31.81.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $249.09 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $246.70 million. Cognex had a net margin of 13.13% and a return on equity of 6.64%. Cognex's quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.23 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Cognex Corporation will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

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

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.