Baillie Gifford & Co. Has $50.35 Million Stock Holdings in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX - Free Report) by 9.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,206,227 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after acquiring an additional 99,647 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co. owned 0.70% of Cognex worth $50,348,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of CGNX. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec acquired a new stake in Cognex in the first quarter valued at $25,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new stake in Cognex in the third quarter valued at $30,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. lifted its holdings in Cognex by 71.1% in the third quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 804 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 334 shares during the period. Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new stake in Cognex in the fourth quarter valued at $44,000. Finally, Dark Forest Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Cognex in the first quarter valued at $60,000. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cognex Stock Performance

Shares of CGNX stock traded down $1.05 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $41.14. 789,804 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,592,990. Cognex Co. has a fifty-two week low of $34.28 and a fifty-two week high of $59.51. The company has a market capitalization of $7.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 62.33 and a beta of 1.49. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $39.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.98.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.04. Cognex had a net margin of 13.52% and a return on equity of 6.86%. The business had revenue of $196.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $189.16 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.27 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was down 17.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Cognex Co. will post 0.44 EPS for the current year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were issued a $0.075 dividend. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 28th. Cognex's dividend payout ratio is presently 45.45%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on CGNX shares. Citigroup lifted their price target on Cognex from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday. StockNews.com downgraded Cognex from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Monday, February 19th. UBS Group upgraded Cognex from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $42.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Truist Financial assumed coverage on Cognex in a report on Thursday, March 14th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $47.00 price target for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $47.70.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cognex news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,782 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total value of $274,942.28. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.