William Blair Investment Management LLC Buys 1,253,996 Shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its position in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX - Free Report) by 27.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,840,117 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,253,996 shares during the quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC owned approximately 3.41% of Cognex worth $209,427,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in CGNX. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its stake in Cognex by 17.5% in the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 18,813 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $762,000 after acquiring an additional 2,799 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in Cognex by 0.4% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 174,632 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $7,073,000 after buying an additional 620 shares in the last quarter. AM Squared Ltd lifted its holdings in Cognex by 4,566.7% in the 3rd quarter. AM Squared Ltd now owns 2,100 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $85,000 after purchasing an additional 2,055 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in Cognex in the 3rd quarter valued at $336,000. Finally, B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new stake in Cognex during the third quarter valued at about $1,910,000. 88.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Insider Transactions at Cognex

In related 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 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CGNX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Cognex from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of Cognex from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. UBS Group cut their price target on Cognex from $58.00 to $56.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Stephens restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reduced 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 investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $44.83.

Cognex Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CGNX traded down $0.23 on Friday, reaching $30.92. 4,113,451 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,206,385. The company has a fifty day moving average of $35.73 and a 200-day moving average of $37.83. The company has a market capitalization of $5.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.69 and a beta of 1.43. Cognex Co. has a twelve month low of $30.04 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 return on equity of 5.65% and a net margin of 11.61%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Cognex Co. will post 0.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.03%. 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.