Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. Cuts Position in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX - Free Report) by 21.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,348,427 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after selling 365,005 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. owned 0.78% of Cognex worth $56,283,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec bought a new stake in Cognex in the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of Cognex during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. lifted its stake in Cognex by 71.1% in the 3rd quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 804 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 334 shares in the last quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new stake in Cognex in the 4th quarter worth $44,000. Finally, Janiczek Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Cognex by 71.8% in the 4th quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,295 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 541 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.12% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cognex

In other Cognex news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,782 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on CGNX. Truist Financial assumed coverage on shares of Cognex in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $47.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Cognex from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Monday, February 19th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Cognex from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $42.00 to $54.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Cognex from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cognex has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $47.70.

Cognex Stock Down 0.6 %

NASDAQ:CGNX traded down $0.23 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $38.46. 680,794 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,518,896. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.56 and a beta of 1.49. Cognex Co. has a 52 week low of $34.28 and a 52 week high of $59.51. The firm's 50 day moving average is $40.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.90.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.11 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $196.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $189.16 million. Cognex had a net margin of 13.52% and a return on equity of 6.86%. The firm's revenue was down 17.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.27 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Cognex Co. will post 0.44 EPS for the current year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were given a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 28th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.78%. Cognex's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.46%.

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.