Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) Shares Bought by Swiss National Bank

Swiss National Bank increased its position in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 0.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 337,300 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,200 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Cognex were worth $12,096,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CGNX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Cognex by 5.2% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,784,239 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $72,262,000 after buying an additional 87,790 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Cognex by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,427,756 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $51,199,000 after buying an additional 42,292 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cognex during the 3rd quarter worth $790,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Cognex by 75.1% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,870 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $102,000 after purchasing an additional 1,231 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TCW Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Cognex by 19.8% during the 3rd quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 583,150 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $23,618,000 after purchasing an additional 96,330 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.73, for a total value of $222,662.19. Following the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CGNX has been the subject of several research reports. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Cognex in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Cognex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Needham & Company LLC decreased their target price on Cognex from $47.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 14th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Cognex from $58.00 to $56.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Truist Financial restated a “hold” rating and issued a $37.00 price target (down previously from $43.00) on shares of Cognex in a report on Friday, February 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $44.83.

Cognex Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CGNX opened at $31.15 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $5.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.07 and a beta of 1.43. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $35.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.83. Cognex Co. has a 52 week low of $30.04 and a 52 week high of $53.13.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by ($0.01). Cognex had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 5.65%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Cognex Co. will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.03%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.46%.

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.