Ceredex Value Advisors LLC Purchases 423,950 Shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Ceredex Value Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX - Free Report) by 116.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 789,550 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after purchasing an additional 423,950 shares during the period. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC owned 0.46% of Cognex worth $31,977,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of CGNX. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in Cognex by 38.4% in the first 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. increased its stake in shares of Cognex by 1.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,522,549 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $743,307,000 after purchasing an additional 188,485 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in shares of Cognex by 153.6% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 134,516 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $5,706,000 after purchasing an additional 81,467 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cognex by 30.5% during the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 870,822 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $36,940,000 after buying an additional 203,684 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in shares of Cognex by 29.0% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,663,900 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $113,722,000 after buying an additional 598,207 shares during the period. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on Cognex from $45.00 to $39.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of Cognex from $46.00 to $42.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 5th. Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Cognex from $55.00 to $46.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price target on shares of Cognex from $50.00 to $47.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cognex from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $49.17.

Cognex Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of Cognex stock traded up $0.18 on Friday, reaching $40.41. 1,460,817 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,284,564. Cognex Co. has a fifty-two week low of $34.79 and a fifty-two week high of $53.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 77.71 and a beta of 1.41. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $39.39 and a 200-day moving average price of $42.91.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.11 by $0.03. Cognex had a return on equity of 5.34% and a net margin of 10.10%. The firm had revenue of $234.74 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $229.86 million. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Cognex Co. will post 0.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.79%. This is a positive change from Cognex's previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. Cognex's dividend payout ratio is presently 61.54%.

Insider Transactions at Cognex

In other Cognex news, Director Dianne M. Parrotte bought 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were bought at an average price of $38.62 per share, with a total value of $77,240.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 11,340 shares in the company, valued at $437,950.80. The trade was a 0.00 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director Dianne M. Parrotte bought 2,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was bought at an average price of $38.62 per share, with a total value of $77,240.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 11,340 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $437,950.80. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Dennis Fehr purchased 6,570 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $38.04 per share, for a total transaction of $249,922.80. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer now directly owns 6,570 shares of the company's stock, valued at $249,922.80. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.