LRT Capital Management LLC Buys 33,150 Shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

LRT Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX - Free Report) by 64.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 84,703 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after buying an additional 33,150 shares during the quarter. Cognex makes up about 2.4% of LRT Capital Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding. LRT Capital Management LLC's holdings in Cognex were worth $3,037,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Cognex by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,427,756 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $51,199,000 after purchasing an additional 42,292 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Cognex by 75.1% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,870 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $102,000 after purchasing an additional 1,231 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank boosted its holdings in Cognex by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 337,300 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $12,096,000 after purchasing an additional 2,200 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cognex during the fourth quarter valued at $267,000. Finally, Covea Finance boosted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 54.7% during the fourth quarter. Covea Finance now owns 73,500 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $2,636,000 after acquiring an additional 26,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.12% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Cognex from $37.00 to $26.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Cognex from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Cognex from $56.00 to $53.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 2nd. TD Cowen raised shares of Cognex from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $35.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, DA Davidson reduced their price objective on shares of Cognex from $35.00 to $32.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $39.17.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.73, for a total value of $222,662.19. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 4,566 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $149,445.18. This represents a 59.84% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company's stock.

Cognex Stock Performance

NASDAQ CGNX traded down $0.03 on Friday, reaching $31.58. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,607,092 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,560,181. Cognex Co. has a twelve month low of $22.67 and a twelve month high of $53.13. The stock has a market cap of $5.30 billion, a PE ratio of 51.77 and a beta of 1.45. The firm's 50 day moving average is $28.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $34.33.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.15 by ($0.01). Cognex had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 5.65%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Cognex Co. will post 0.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.01%. Cognex's dividend payout ratio is currently 47.06%.

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.