National Bank of Canada FI Boosts Holdings in Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX)

National Bank of Canada FI grew its holdings in shares of Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 488,646.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 200,386 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 200,345 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI’s holdings in Cognex were worth $5,978,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cognex by 439.4% in the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 971 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 791 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cognex by 155.3% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,062 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 646 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its stake in shares of Cognex by 105.5% in the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,280 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 657 shares in the last quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Cognex in the first quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of Cognex in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $53,000. 88.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on CGNX shares. KeyCorp upgraded Cognex from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $50.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 1st. UBS Group boosted their price target on Cognex from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Cowen raised Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Melius raised Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their price target on Cognex from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cognex presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.31.

Cognex Stock Performance

CGNX stock opened at $44.18 on Thursday. Cognex Corporation has a 1 year low of $22.67 and a 1 year high of $44.21. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $34.08 and its 200 day moving average price is $31.94. The firm has a market cap of $7.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 62.23 and a beta of 1.47.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.02. Cognex had a return on equity of 6.65% and a net margin of 13.13%. The firm had revenue of $249.09 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $246.70 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.23 EPS. Cognex’s revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Cognex Corporation 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, August 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 14th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 45.07%.

About Cognex

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.