Truist Financial Corp Purchases 20,976 Shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Truist Financial Corp raised its position in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 24.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 106,743 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after acquiring an additional 20,976 shares during the quarter. Truist Financial Corp owned approximately 0.06% of Cognex worth $4,455,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. raised its position in Cognex by 27.9% during the 4th quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 11,000 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $459,000 after purchasing an additional 2,400 shares during the last quarter. Semanteon Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Cognex during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,200,000. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in Cognex by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 25,437 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,062,000 after acquiring an additional 607 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its holdings in Cognex by 11.9% in the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,760 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $115,000 after acquiring an additional 294 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Duality Advisers LP increased its position in Cognex by 20.4% during the 4th quarter. Duality Advisers LP now owns 52,102 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $2,175,000 after purchasing an additional 8,845 shares during the period. 88.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Cognex Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CGNX opened at $43.79 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $7.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 75.50 and a beta of 1.48. Cognex Co. has a fifty-two week low of $34.28 and a fifty-two week high of $59.51. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $38.90.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $196.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $189.16 million. Cognex had a net margin of 11.76% and a return on equity of 6.81%. Cognex’s revenue was down 17.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.27 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Cognex Co. will post 0.44 EPS for the current year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.69%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.72%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on CGNX shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, February 19th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Cognex from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. 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 report on Tuesday, March 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on shares of Cognex from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Truist Financial assumed coverage on shares of Cognex in a report on Thursday, March 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $47.00 price objective for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cognex presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $48.58.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cognex

In other Cognex news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,782 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total transaction of $274,942.28. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.