Federated Hermes Inc. Purchases 74,968 Shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its position in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX - Free Report) by 12.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 674,287 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after purchasing an additional 74,968 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. owned about 0.39% of Cognex worth $24,180,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Cognex by 1.6% in 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 last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its position in Cognex by 27.3% in the 4th 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 last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Cognex by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,190,365 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $210,210,000 after purchasing an additional 42,882 shares during the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA boosted its stake in 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 worth $136,999,000 after purchasing an additional 461,724 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN grew its holdings in shares of Cognex by 8.9% during the third quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 3,751,807 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $151,948,000 after purchasing an additional 305,913 shares during the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

CGNX has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Cognex to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Cognex from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. HSBC cut shares of Cognex from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $33.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Cognex from $37.00 to $29.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price objective on Cognex from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $44.17.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 4,566 shares of the company's stock, valued at $149,445.18. This represents a 59.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Cognex Stock Up 2.0 %

NASDAQ CGNX traded up $0.49 during trading on Monday, reaching $24.44. 745,549 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,384,717. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $31.55 and its 200 day moving average price is $36.41. The firm has a market cap of $4.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.07 and a beta of 1.56. Cognex Co. has a fifty-two week low of $22.67 and a fifty-two week high of $53.13.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.14 EPS 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%. Analysts anticipate that Cognex Co. will post 0.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th were given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.31%. Cognex's dividend payout ratio 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.