Marshall Wace LLP Raises Stock Position in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Marshall Wace LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX - Free Report) by 903.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 731,232 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after acquiring an additional 658,394 shares during the quarter. Marshall Wace LLP owned 0.43% of Cognex worth $26,222,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CGNX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Cognex by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,784,239 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $72,262,000 after purchasing an additional 87,790 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Cognex by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,427,756 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $51,199,000 after buying an additional 42,292 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cognex in the third quarter valued at about $790,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Cognex by 75.1% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,870 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $102,000 after acquiring an additional 1,231 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss National Bank grew its holdings in Cognex by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 337,300 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $12,096,000 after acquiring an additional 2,200 shares in the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cognex Stock Performance

NASDAQ CGNX traded up $1.02 on Thursday, reaching $26.00. The stock had a trading volume of 714,394 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,479,357. Cognex Co. has a 12-month low of $22.67 and a 12-month high of $53.13. The business's 50-day moving average price is $29.37 and its 200 day moving average price is $35.58. The stock has a market cap of $4.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.63 and a beta of 1.56.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates 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 predict that Cognex Co. will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. Cognex's dividend payout ratio is presently 52.46%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CGNX has been the topic of several recent research reports. Hsbc Global Res cut Cognex from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Cognex from $58.00 to $56.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Needham & Company LLC reduced their target price on shares of Cognex from $47.00 to $41.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 14th. Stephens restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Cognex in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on Cognex from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cognex currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $42.83.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cognex

In other Cognex news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.73, for a total value of $222,662.19. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 4,566 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $149,445.18. This represents a 59.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Cognex 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.