ING Groep NV Makes New $22.19 Million Investment in Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Key Points

• ING Groep NV acquired a new stake in Cognex Corporation, purchasing 743,900 shares valued at approximately $22.19 million, representing about 0.44% of the company.
• Recent analyst ratings for Cognex have been mixed, with several upgrades including a shift from "hold" to "buy" by Melius and TD Cowen, while Goldman Sachs maintains a "sell" rating with a targeted price increase.
• Cognex reported earnings of $0.25 per share for the last quarter, beating estimates, and also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.08 per share, indicating a yield of 0.8%.

ING Groep NV purchased a new position in shares of Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 743,900 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock, valued at approximately $22,191,000. ING Groep NV owned about 0.44% of Cognex at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Cognex by 439.4% in the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 971 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 791 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Cognex by 155.3% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,062 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 646 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in Cognex by 105.5% in the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,280 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 657 shares during the last quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Cognex during the 1st quarter worth $38,000. Finally, Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of Cognex during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Institutional investors own 88.12% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on CGNX. UBS Group increased their price objective on Cognex from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. DA Davidson lifted their price target on Cognex from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday. Cowen upgraded shares of Cognex from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on shares of Cognex from $36.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Cognex from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, June 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Cognex presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $42.31.

Cognex Trading Down 0.3%

NASDAQ CGNX traded down $0.14 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $41.23. 749,860 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,107,562. The business's fifty day moving average price is $33.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $31.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.10 and a beta of 1.47. Cognex Corporation has a 52 week low of $22.67 and a 52 week high of $44.17.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $249.09 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $246.70 million. Cognex had a return on equity of 6.65% and a net margin of 13.13%. Cognex's revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.23 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Cognex Corporation will post 0.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 14th will be given 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 presently 45.07%.

Cognex Company Profile

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.