Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new position in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 48,300 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock, valued at approximately $2,016,000.
A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CGNX. Private Advisor Group LLC purchased a new position in Cognex in the first quarter valued at about $335,000. Raymond James Trust N.A. raised its stake in shares of Cognex by 29.4% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 5,619 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $433,000 after purchasing an additional 1,277 shares in the last quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. bought a new stake in Cognex in the first quarter valued at about $3,102,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Cognex by 15.3% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 608,049 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $46,913,000 after buying an additional 80,615 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL raised its stake in Cognex by 10.2% during the first quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 32,214 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $2,485,000 after buying an additional 2,990 shares in the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on CGNX. Citigroup boosted their price target on Cognex from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Cognex from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Monday, February 19th. UBS Group raised shares of Cognex from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $42.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Truist Financial began coverage on Cognex in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. They set a "buy" rating and a $47.00 price objective 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cognex has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $47.70.
Read Our Latest Research Report on CGNX
Cognex Stock Performance
Shares of CGNX stock traded down $0.52 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $38.69. 708,570 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,530,072. The company's 50 day moving average price is $40.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $38.90. The company has a market cap of $6.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.62 and a beta of 1.49. Cognex Co. has a 12 month low of $34.28 and a 12 month high of $59.51.
Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.04. Cognex had a return on equity of 6.86% and a net margin of 13.52%. The firm had revenue of $196.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $189.16 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.27 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 17.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Cognex Co. will post 0.44 earnings per share for the current year.
Cognex Announces Dividend
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were given a $0.075 dividend. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 28th. Cognex's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.46%.
Insider Buying and Selling at Cognex
In other Cognex news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,782 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction that occurred 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 document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
Cognex Company Profile
(
Free Report)
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.
Featured Articles
Before you consider Cognex, you'll want to hear this.
MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Cognex wasn't on the list.
While Cognex currently has a "Hold" rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys.
View The Five Stocks Here
Wondering where to start (or end) with AI stocks? These 10 simple stocks can help investors build long-term wealth as artificial intelligence continues to grow into the future.
Get This Free Report
