Vanguard Group Inc. Cuts Position in Cognex Corporation $CGNX

Key Points

• Vanguard Group trimmed its stake by 0.1% in Q4, selling 22,088 shares and now holds 18,576,640 shares — about 11.08% of Cognex, valued at roughly $668.4 million.
• Insiders have sold heavily over the past 90 days (196,083 shares worth about $11.42 million), including a 177,052-share sale by director Robert Willett, leaving insiders with 1.70% ownership.
• Analysts show a mixed view but a consensus "Moderate Buy" with a $59.50 target (one Strong Buy, eight Buy, seven Hold); Cognex recently beat quarterly EPS and revenue and trades at a market cap of $9.34 billion (PE 83.49).

Vanguard Group Inc. decreased its position in Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX - Free Report) by 0.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 18,576,640 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after selling 22,088 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 11.08% of Cognex worth $668,388,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of CGNX. Quent Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cognex during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Cognex by 402.2% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 919 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 736 shares in the last quarter. REAP Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cognex during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cognex by 74.8% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 764 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 327 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Cognex during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $38,000. 88.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on CGNX. Wall Street Zen cut Cognex from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, April 11th. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Cognex from $52.00 to $50.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 20th. TD Cowen restated a "buy" rating on shares of Cognex in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Cognex from $50.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Raymond James Financial restated a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Cognex in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. One 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cognex presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $59.50.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Angelos Papadimitriou sold 4,150 shares of the company's 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $901,618.76. This represents a 20.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Robert Willett sold 177,052 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.39, for a total value of $10,338,066.28. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 196,083 shares of company stock valued at $11,419,321. 1.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Cognex Price Performance

Shares of CGNX stock opened at $55.94 on Monday. Cognex Corporation has a 1 year low of $27.54 and a 1 year high of $59.88. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $52.34 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $44.86. The company has a market cap of $9.34 billion, a PE ratio of 83.49 and a beta of 1.48.

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

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 26th were paid a dividend of $0.085 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 26th. This represents a $0.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Cognex's dividend payout ratio is currently 50.75%.

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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