Invesco Ltd. Has $41.35 Million Position in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 6.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,153,176 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 73,553 shares during the quarter. Invesco Ltd.’s holdings in Cognex were worth $41,353,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Cognex in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of 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 valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 295 shares during the last quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in shares of Cognex by 129.9% in the fourth quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 1,007 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 569 shares during the period. Clean Yield Group lifted its position in shares of Cognex by 1,686.7% during the 4th quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 1,072 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 1,012 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. boosted its stake in Cognex by 50.2% during the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 1,047 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 350 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cognex

In other Cognex news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of Cognex 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 4,566 shares in the company, valued at approximately $149,445.18. The trade was a 59.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on CGNX shares. Truist Financial dropped their price target on Cognex from $37.00 to $29.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. HSBC cut shares of Cognex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $33.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Cognex in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Cognex from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Cognex from $58.00 to $56.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $42.83.

Cognex Trading Down 1.9 %

NASDAQ CGNX opened at $23.55 on Thursday. Cognex Co. has a 1-year low of $22.67 and a 1-year high of $53.13. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $30.67 and its two-hundred day moving average is $36.12. The company has a market capitalization of $3.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.61 and a beta of 1.56.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last announced its quarterly 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 net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 5.65%. On average, analysts predict that Cognex Co. will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.36%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.