Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. Grows Stock Position in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its holdings in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 4.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 15,057 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after buying an additional 574 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc.’s holdings in Cognex were worth $540,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CGNX. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cognex by 129.9% during the 4th quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 1,007 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 569 shares during the last quarter. Postrock Partners LLC purchased a new position in Cognex during the fourth quarter valued at $348,000. LBP AM SA bought a new stake in Cognex during the fourth quarter valued at about $407,000. Swiss National Bank increased its position in Cognex by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 337,300 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $12,096,000 after buying an additional 2,200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Cognex by 42.6% in the fourth quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 160,043 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $5,739,000 after buying an additional 47,811 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.73, for a total transaction of $222,662.19. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 4,566 shares in the company, valued at approximately $149,445.18. This represents a 59.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on CGNX. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Cognex from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Cognex from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Hsbc Global Res lowered Cognex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, HSBC downgraded Cognex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $33.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Friday, February 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $44.83.

Cognex Stock Performance

CGNX stock opened at $31.25 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $35.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.66. Cognex Co. has a fifty-two week low of $30.04 and a fifty-two week high of $53.13. The firm has a market cap of $5.29 billion, a PE ratio of 51.23 and a beta of 1.43.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by ($0.01). Cognex had a return on equity of 5.65% and a net margin of 11.61%. On average, equities analysts predict 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.