Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. Sells 7,510 Shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lowered its position in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 10.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 67,730 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 7,510 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Cognex were worth $2,873,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Cognex by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,334,064 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $723,524,000 after purchasing an additional 203,149 shares during the period. Brown Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Cognex by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Brown Capital Management LLC now owns 5,419,313 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $226,202,000 after purchasing an additional 262,003 shares during the period. Impax Asset Management Group plc grew its holdings in Cognex by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,842,978 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $118,666,000 after purchasing an additional 31,483 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in Cognex by 29.0% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,663,900 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $113,722,000 after purchasing an additional 598,207 shares during the period. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Cognex by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 2,002,798 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $83,597,000 after purchasing an additional 52,672 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on CGNX. UBS Group upgraded Cognex from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $42.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Cognex from $36.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, May 6th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Cognex from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on Cognex from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Truist Financial boosted their price objective on Cognex from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cognex currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $49.54.

Cognex Price Performance

Shares of CGNX traded up $0.35 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $50.98. 1,158,665 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,021,355. The stock has a market cap of $8.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 87.90 and a beta of 1.42. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $46.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $42.02. Cognex Co. has a 12 month low of $34.28 and a 12 month high of $59.51.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.05 EPS for the quarter. Cognex had a return on equity of 6.81% and a net margin of 11.76%. The firm had revenue of $210.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $198.14 million. Research analysts predict that Cognex Co. will post 0.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th were paid a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.59%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.72%.

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.