Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) Shares Sold by Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lessened its stake in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 48.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 11,552 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 10,825 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings in Cognex were worth $482,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 156.5% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,065,693 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $86,862,000 after purchasing an additional 1,260,282 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 17.8% in the third quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 5,536,355 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $234,962,000 after acquiring an additional 837,487 shares during the period. Impax Asset Management Group plc grew its position in shares of Cognex by 16.0% during the third quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,811,495 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $119,320,000 after acquiring an additional 387,860 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Cognex in the 4th quarter valued at $12,417,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Cognex by 10.2% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,082,608 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $88,386,000 after purchasing an additional 192,206 shares during the period. 88.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Cognex

In other news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,782 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total transaction of $274,942.28. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Cognex Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of CGNX stock opened at $39.79 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $6.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.29 and a beta of 1.49. Cognex Co. has a fifty-two week low of $34.28 and a fifty-two week high of $59.51. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $40.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.81.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last released 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. Cognex had a net margin of 13.52% and a return on equity of 6.86%. The business had revenue of $196.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $189.16 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.27 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 17.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cognex Co. will post 0.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 14th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.75%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 45.46%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on CGNX shares. UBS Group upgraded shares of Cognex from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $42.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Cognex from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. StockNews.com lowered Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, February 19th. Finally, Truist Financial initiated coverage on Cognex in a report on Thursday, March 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $47.00 price target for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned 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 presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $47.70.

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.