Norges Bank Takes Position in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 1,291,091 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock, valued at approximately $46,299,000. Norges Bank owned 0.75% of Cognex at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of CGNX. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Cognex by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,479,828 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $662,687,000 after acquiring an additional 296,251 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cognex by 37.0% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 47,381 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $1,699,000 after purchasing an additional 12,797 shares during the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new position in shares of Cognex during the 4th quarter worth $1,262,000. Quantbot Technologies LP raised its holdings in Cognex by 261.7% in the 4th quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 209,723 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $7,521,000 after buying an additional 151,739 shares during the period. Finally, Sciencast Management LP raised its holdings in Cognex by 791.2% in the 4th quarter. Sciencast Management LP now owns 44,580 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $1,599,000 after buying an additional 39,578 shares during the period. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Cognex from $58.00 to $56.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Stephens reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Cognex in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Cognex from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. HSBC downgraded Cognex from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $33.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised Cognex to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given 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.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $44.17.

Cognex Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CGNX traded up $2.51 on Wednesday, hitting $25.78. 8,811,145 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,343,218. Cognex Co. has a 1-year low of $22.65 and a 1-year high of $53.13. The company has a market capitalization of $4.37 billion, a PE ratio of 42.26 and a beta of 1.56. The firm's 50-day moving average is $32.71 and its 200 day moving average is $36.82.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.15 by ($0.01). Cognex had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 5.65%. On average, analysts anticipate that Cognex Co. will post 0.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The company 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. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. Cognex's payout ratio is 52.46%.

Insider Transactions at Cognex

In other news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 4,566 shares in the company, valued at approximately $149,445.18. This trade represents a 59.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 1.60% of the company's stock.

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.