Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) Shares Purchased by Northern Trust Corp

Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 21.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,741,196 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after buying an additional 307,385 shares during the quarter. Northern Trust Corp owned about 1.02% of Cognex worth $62,439,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in shares of Cognex during the third quarter worth $40,000. Tidal Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Cognex by 10.0% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 33,657 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,363,000 after buying an additional 3,068 shares during the last quarter. Clean Yield Group lifted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 1,686.7% in the 4th quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 1,072 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 1,012 shares during the period. FNY Investment Advisers LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cognex by 1,818.9% in the fourth quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 2,840 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $101,000 after buying an additional 2,692 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oak Thistle LLC acquired a new stake in Cognex during the fourth quarter worth about $449,000. 88.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Cognex

In other news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $149,445.18. The trade was a 59.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on Cognex from $37.00 to $29.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Cowen raised shares of Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. TD Cowen raised shares of Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $35.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Cognex from $37.00 to $26.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res cut Cognex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $39.17.

Cognex Trading Down 0.6 %

NASDAQ:CGNX opened at $27.83 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $28.31 and a two-hundred day moving average of $34.77. Cognex Co. has a 12 month low of $22.67 and a 12 month high of $53.13. The firm has a market cap of $4.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.62 and a beta of 1.45.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.14 EPS 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%. On average, research analysts forecast that Cognex Co. will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.15%. Cognex’s payout ratio is presently 47.06%.

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.