Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) Shares Sold by Royce & Associates LP

Royce & Associates LP trimmed its holdings in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 0.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,379,742 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 4,599 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP owned about 0.80% of Cognex worth $49,478,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CGNX. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Cognex during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $79,797,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in Cognex by 122.7% during the third quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,834,755 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $114,808,000 after buying an additional 1,562,115 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in Cognex by 38.0% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,092,681 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $75,044,000 after buying an additional 576,788 shares in the last quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. lifted its position in Cognex by 91.5% during the third quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. now owns 642,737 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $26,031,000 after buying an additional 307,018 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN lifted its position in Cognex by 8.9% during the third quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 3,751,807 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $151,948,000 after buying an additional 305,913 shares in the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cognex Trading Up 4.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ CGNX opened at $31.51 on Friday. Cognex Co. has a twelve month low of $30.04 and a twelve month high of $53.13. The company has a market capitalization of $5.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.66 and a beta of 1.43. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $36.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $38.04.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) 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%. As a group, research analysts predict that Cognex Co. will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.02%. Cognex’s payout ratio is presently 52.46%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price 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. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Cognex in a research note on Wednesday. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Cognex from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. HSBC lowered shares of Cognex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $33.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lowered their price target on shares of Cognex from $47.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $44.83.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cognex news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.73, for a total transaction of $222,662.19. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 4,566 shares in the company, valued at approximately $149,445.18. The trade was a 59.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

About Cognex

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.