Baillie Gifford & Co. cut its holdings in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX - Free Report) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,267,739 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after selling 24,490 shares during the quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. owned about 0.74% of Cognex worth $45,461,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Principal Securities Inc. raised its stake in shares of Cognex by 50.2% in the fourth 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 last quarter. Peregrine Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Cognex in the fourth quarter worth about $8,042,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Cognex by 41.5% in the fourth quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 42,905 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $1,539,000 after purchasing an additional 12,581 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in shares of Cognex by 27.9% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 127,256 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $4,563,000 after purchasing an additional 27,727 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thomas Story & Son LLC raised its stake in shares of Cognex by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Thomas Story & Son LLC now owns 145,732 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $5,226,000 after purchasing an additional 1,805 shares during the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Insider Activity
In related news, CTO Joerg Kuechen sold 2,934 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.75, for a total transaction of $110,758.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
CGNX has been the topic of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on Cognex from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Truist Financial reaffirmed a "hold" rating and set a $37.00 target price (down from $43.00) on shares of Cognex in a report on Friday, February 14th. Needham & Company LLC dropped their target price on Cognex from $47.00 to $41.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. HSBC lowered Cognex from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $33.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Friday. Finally, UBS Group dropped their target price on Cognex from $58.00 to $56.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cognex presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $44.83.
Read Our Latest Stock Report on Cognex
Cognex Trading Down 1.8 %
CGNX traded down $0.60 during trading on Friday, hitting $32.80. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,669,656 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,418,890. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.77 and a beta of 1.40. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $37.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.74. Cognex Co. has a twelve month low of $32.35 and a twelve month high of $53.13.
Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.14 earnings per share 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, equities research analysts forecast that Cognex Co. will post 0.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Cognex Announces Dividend
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th will be given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.98%. Cognex's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.46%.
Cognex Company Profile
(
Free Report)
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.
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