Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) Shares Sold by Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC

Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 136,787 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 6,373 shares during the period. Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Cognex were worth $5,692,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Cognex by 17.8% during the third quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 5,536,355 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $234,962,000 after purchasing an additional 837,487 shares during the period. Impax Asset Management Group plc raised its position in shares of Cognex by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,842,978 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $118,666,000 after acquiring an additional 31,483 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Cognex by 10.2% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,082,608 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $88,386,000 after acquiring an additional 192,206 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of Cognex by 156.5% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,065,693 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $86,862,000 after acquiring an additional 1,260,282 shares during the period. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Cognex by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 2,002,798 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $83,597,000 after acquiring an additional 52,672 shares during the period. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,782 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total value of $274,942.28. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Price Performance

NASDAQ CGNX traded up $0.82 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $40.61. 542,283 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 741,066. Cognex Co. has a 52-week low of $34.28 and a 52-week high of $59.51. The company has a market capitalization of $6.97 billion, a PE ratio of 61.53 and a beta of 1.49. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $40.40 and its 200-day moving average is $38.81.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.04. Cognex had a net margin of 13.52% and a return on equity of 6.86%. The company had revenue of $196.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $189.16 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.27 EPS. Cognex’s revenue was down 17.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Cognex Co. will post 0.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were paid a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 28th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.74%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.46%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on CGNX. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, February 19th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Cognex from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $42.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Truist Financial initiated coverage on shares of Cognex in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $47.00 target price for the company. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Cognex from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $47.70.

Cognex 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.