M&T Bank Corp Purchases 225,578 Shares of Cognex Corporation $CGNX

M&T Bank Corp grew its position in Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX - Free Report) by 442.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 276,543 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after acquiring an additional 225,578 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp owned 0.17% of Cognex worth $9,950,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH raised its stake in shares of Cognex by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 93,806 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $3,377,000 after acquiring an additional 3,873 shares during the last quarter. Probity Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Cognex by 11.3% in the fourth quarter. Probity Advisors Inc. now owns 7,256 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $261,000 after acquiring an additional 738 shares during the last quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Cognex by 55.2% in the fourth quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 7,004 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $252,000 after acquiring an additional 2,492 shares during the last quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. raised its stake in shares of Cognex by 165.7% in the fourth quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 2,391 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $86,000 after acquiring an additional 1,491 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its stake in shares of Cognex by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 34,154 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $1,229,000 after acquiring an additional 1,872 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.12% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Cognex from $50.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. DA Davidson set a $55.00 target price on shares of Cognex and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Zacks Research cut shares of Cognex from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $63.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Cognex from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $55.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, March 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Cognex has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $57.62.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cognex news, VP Laura Ann Macdonald sold 14,881 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.16, for a total transaction of $850,597.96. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 2,212 shares in the company, valued at approximately $126,437.92. The trade was a 87.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Angelos Papadimitriou sold 4,150 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.58, for a total transaction of $230,657.00. Following the sale, the director owned 16,222 shares of the company's stock, valued at $901,618.76. The trade was a 20.37% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 196,083 shares of company stock worth $11,419,321 in the last quarter. Insiders own 1.70% of the company's stock.

Cognex Price Performance

CGNX stock opened at $54.26 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $52.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $44.59. Cognex Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $25.70 and a fifty-two week high of $59.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.06 billion, a PE ratio of 80.99 and a beta of 1.47.

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

Cognex Announces Dividend

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

About Cognex

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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