Vanguard Group Inc. Has $662.69 Million Holdings in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX - Free Report) by 1.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 18,479,828 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after purchasing an additional 296,251 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 10.77% of Cognex worth $662,687,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Cognex by 123.1% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 714 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 394 shares during the period. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Cognex in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Cognex by 50.0% during the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 885 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 295 shares in the last quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC grew its position in shares of Cognex by 129.9% during the 4th quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 1,007 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 569 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clean Yield Group increased its holdings in shares of Cognex by 1,686.7% during the fourth quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 1,072 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 1,012 shares during the period. 88.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on CGNX shares. UBS Group reduced their price target on Cognex from $58.00 to $56.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Cognex to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a "hold" rating and issued a $37.00 price target (down previously from $43.00) on shares of Cognex in a research note on Friday, February 14th. HSBC lowered shares of Cognex from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $33.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Cognex in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $44.83.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cognex

In other news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction 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 owns 4,566 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company's stock.

Cognex Stock Down 10.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CGNX traded down $3.15 during trading on Thursday, hitting $27.44. 1,760,433 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,273,737. Cognex Co. has a 1-year low of $26.92 and a 1-year high of $53.13. The company has a market capitalization of $4.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.98 and a beta of 1.56. The business's 50 day moving average is $34.23 and its 200-day moving average is $37.33.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.15 by ($0.01). Cognex had a return on equity of 5.65% and a net margin of 11.61%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cognex Co. will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.17%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. Cognex's payout ratio is 52.46%.

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.