Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Purchases 409,502 Shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX - Free Report) by 33.8% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,621,629 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after acquiring an additional 409,502 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned 0.94% of Cognex worth $75,828,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Contour Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Cognex during the 4th quarter worth approximately $11,454,000. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of Cognex by 38.4% during the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 64,855 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $2,751,000 after buying an additional 17,978 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Cognex by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,522,549 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $743,307,000 after buying an additional 188,485 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its position in shares of Cognex by 153.6% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 134,516 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $5,706,000 after buying an additional 81,467 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in shares of Cognex by 30.5% during the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 870,822 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $36,940,000 after buying an additional 203,684 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.12% of the company's stock.

Cognex Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CGNX traded down $0.03 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $40.27. The stock had a trading volume of 900,108 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,303,920. Cognex Co. has a fifty-two week low of $34.28 and a fifty-two week high of $53.13. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $40.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.18. The firm has a market cap of $6.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 69.43 and a beta of 1.41.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.03. Cognex had a return on equity of 4.97% and a net margin of 9.29%. The business had revenue of $239.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $240.33 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.32 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Cognex Co. will post 0.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th were paid a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.74%. Cognex's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.72%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CGNX. Stephens reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating and set a $45.00 price target on shares of Cognex in a report on Monday, August 5th. Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on Cognex from $48.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. StockNews.com raised Cognex from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. DA Davidson dropped their price target on Cognex from $41.00 to $39.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Cognex from $45.00 to $39.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $49.62.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Dianne M. Parrotte acquired 2,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $38.62 per share, with a total value of $77,240.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 11,340 shares in the company, valued at $437,950.80. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Cognex news, CFO Dennis Fehr bought 6,570 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $38.04 per share, for a total transaction of $249,922.80. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer now owns 6,570 shares in the company, valued at approximately $249,922.80. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Dianne M. Parrotte bought 2,000 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $38.62 per share, for a total transaction of $77,240.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 11,340 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $437,950.80. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is owned by 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.