Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) Shares Purchased by Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX - Free Report) by 195.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 208,966 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after acquiring an additional 138,139 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. owned 0.12% of Cognex worth $7,494,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of Cognex by 38.0% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,092,681 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $75,044,000 after purchasing an additional 576,788 shares during the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its stake in shares of Cognex by 14.6% during the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 45,500 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $1,632,000 after buying an additional 5,800 shares during the period. Ieq Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cognex by 653.6% during the fourth quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 59,785 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $2,144,000 after buying an additional 51,852 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its position in Cognex by 30.8% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 1,346 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 317 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its stake in Cognex by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 5,616 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $201,000 after acquiring an additional 270 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.12% of the company's stock.

Cognex Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of Cognex stock traded up $0.17 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $32.04. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,117,938 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,441,654. The business has a fifty day moving average of $36.92 and a 200 day moving average of $38.50. Cognex Co. has a 1-year low of $31.06 and a 1-year high of $53.13. The company has a market capitalization of $5.44 billion, a PE ratio of 52.54 and a beta of 1.40.

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 earnings per share (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, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cognex Co. will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 27th. Cognex's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.46%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CTO Joerg Kuechen sold 2,934 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction dated 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 document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.73, for a total value of $222,662.19. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 4,566 shares of the company's stock, valued at $149,445.18. This represents a 59.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Hsbc Global Res cut Cognex from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. HSBC downgraded Cognex from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $33.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Cognex to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Truist Financial reiterated a "hold" rating and set a $37.00 price objective (down from $43.00) on shares of Cognex in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC decreased their target price on shares of Cognex from $47.00 to $41.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cognex has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $44.83.

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.