Snyder Capital Management L P Sells 155,941 Shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Snyder Capital Management L P decreased its position in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX - Free Report) by 20.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 593,470 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after selling 155,941 shares during the quarter. Snyder Capital Management L P owned approximately 0.35% of Cognex worth $21,282,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CGNX. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Cognex during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Cognex by 50.0% during the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 885 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 295 shares during the period. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Cognex by 129.9% during the 4th quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 1,007 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 569 shares during the period. Clean Yield Group grew its stake in shares of Cognex by 1,686.7% during the 4th quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 1,072 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 1,012 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. boosted its stake in Cognex by 50.2% in the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 1,047 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 350 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.12% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on CGNX shares. Stephens restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Cognex in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. TD Cowen upgraded 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. HSBC downgraded Cognex from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $33.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Hsbc Global Res downgraded Cognex from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of Cognex from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Cognex presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $42.23.

Cognex Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of Cognex stock traded down $0.12 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $26.68. The company's stock had a trading volume of 738,700 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,509,393. Cognex Co. has a 52-week low of $22.67 and a 52-week high of $53.13. The company has a market cap of $4.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.74 and a beta of 1.56. The firm's 50-day moving average is $28.82 and its two-hundred day moving average is $35.20.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Cognex Co. will post 0.61 EPS for the current year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.20%. Cognex's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cognex

In other Cognex news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.73, for a total transaction of $222,662.19. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 4,566 shares of the company's stock, valued at $149,445.18. This represents a 59.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.60% 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.