Virtu Financial LLC Has $464,000 Holdings in Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Key Points

• Virtu Financial LLC increased its stake in Cognex Corporation by 113.8%, acquiring an additional 8,280 shares, which brings their total holdings to 15,559 shares worth $464,000.
• Cognex reported quarterly earnings of $0.25 per share, surpassing the consensus estimate of $0.23, with a revenue of $249.09 million that exceeded expectations of $246.70 million.
• The company has a dividend yield of 0.7%, with a quarterly dividend of $0.08 declared for payment to stockholders of record on August 14th.

Virtu Financial LLC increased its stake in Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX - Free Report) by 113.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,559 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after buying an additional 8,280 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC's holdings in Cognex were worth $464,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its stake in shares of Cognex by 126.2% in the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 4,609,802 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $137,510,000 after buying an additional 2,571,457 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Cognex by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 2,256,640 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $80,923,000 after purchasing an additional 25,492 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased 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 valued at $63,584,000 after purchasing an additional 38,857 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Cognex by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,902,930 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $68,239,000 after purchasing an additional 117,089 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Cognex by 35.7% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,891,602 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $67,834,000 after purchasing an additional 497,341 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.12% of the company's stock.

Cognex Trading Down 1.9%

CGNX stock traded down $0.82 during trading on Friday, hitting $42.70. The company had a trading volume of 1,964,257 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,390,650. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.14 and a beta of 1.47. The business has a 50 day moving average of $34.60 and a 200 day moving average of $31.95. Cognex Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $22.67 and a fifty-two week high of $44.38.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.02. Cognex had a net margin of 13.13% and a return on equity of 6.65%. The company had revenue of $249.09 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $246.70 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.23 EPS. Cognex's revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Cognex Corporation will post 0.61 EPS for the current year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 14th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 14th. Cognex's dividend payout ratio is presently 45.07%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on CGNX shares. DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of Cognex from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Citigroup reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $37.00 target price (up previously from $30.00) on shares of Cognex in a research note on Monday, July 14th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Cognex from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $35.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Cognex from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on shares of Cognex from $36.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $42.31.

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.