Natixis Advisors LLC Sells 16,581 Shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Natixis Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 26.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 45,703 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 16,581 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Cognex were worth $1,639,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Cognex by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 7,836 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $281,000 after purchasing an additional 262 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its stake in Cognex by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 5,616 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $201,000 after buying an additional 270 shares in the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Cognex by 50.0% in the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 885 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 295 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its position in Cognex by 30.8% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 1,346 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 317 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System boosted its position in Cognex by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 49,749 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,784,000 after acquiring an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CGNX has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup lowered their target price on Cognex from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Needham & Company LLC lowered their price objective on Cognex from $47.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Cognex to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Cognex from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Truist Financial restated a “hold” rating and issued a $37.00 price objective (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 issued a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cognex currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $44.83.

Cognex Trading Up 2.1 %

Shares of CGNX opened at $31.57 on Tuesday. Cognex Co. has a 12 month low of $30.04 and a 12 month high of $53.13. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $35.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $37.70. The company has a market cap of $5.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.75 and a beta of 1.43.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last released its quarterly earnings data 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%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Cognex Co. will post 0.61 EPS for the current year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th were issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.01%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.46%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.73, for a total value 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. This trade represents a 59.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.