XTX Topco Ltd Makes New $1.25 Million Investment in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 34,752 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock, valued at approximately $1,246,000.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Cognex by 1.6% during 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 period. William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Cognex by 27.3% during the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 5,840,117 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $209,427,000 after purchasing an additional 1,253,996 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its stake in shares of Cognex by 13.7% in the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 3,820,394 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $136,999,000 after purchasing an additional 461,724 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Cognex by 5.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,608,028 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $146,157,000 after purchasing an additional 175,423 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Cognex in the 4th quarter valued at $79,797,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.12% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on CGNX. Stephens reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Cognex from $37.00 to $26.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on Cognex from $37.00 to $29.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. HSBC cut Cognex from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $33.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on Cognex from $58.00 to $56.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $42.83.

Insider Transactions at Cognex

In related news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was 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 directly owns 4,566 shares of the company's stock, valued at $149,445.18. The trade was a 59.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Cognex Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of CGNX traded up $0.22 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $23.77. 4,864,589 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,446,438. The business has a 50-day moving average of $30.04 and a 200 day moving average of $35.85. Cognex Co. has a one year low of $22.67 and a one year high of $53.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.97 and a beta of 1.56.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX - Get Free Report) last released its 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%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Cognex Co. will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.35%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. Cognex's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.46%.

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.