Lmcg Investments LLC Decreases Position in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Lmcg Investments LLC lowered its stake in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 11.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 81,620 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 10,137 shares during the period. Lmcg Investments LLC’s holdings in Cognex were worth $3,306,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in shares of Cognex by 38.4% during the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 64,855 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $2,751,000 after purchasing an additional 17,978 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Cognex by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,522,549 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $743,307,000 after purchasing an additional 188,485 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in shares of Cognex by 153.6% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 134,516 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $5,706,000 after purchasing an additional 81,467 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in shares of Cognex by 30.5% during the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 870,822 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $36,940,000 after purchasing an additional 203,684 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of Cognex by 29.0% during the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,663,900 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $113,722,000 after purchasing an additional 598,207 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cognex news, Director Dianne M. Parrotte purchased 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $38.62 per share, with a total value of $77,240.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 11,340 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $437,950.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Cognex news, CFO Dennis Fehr purchased 6,570 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $38.04 per share, with a total value of $249,922.80. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer now directly owns 6,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $249,922.80. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Dianne M. Parrotte purchased 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $38.62 per share, with a total value of $77,240.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 11,340 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $437,950.80. The trade was a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on CGNX shares. Stephens upgraded shares of Cognex from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $45.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cognex from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. DA Davidson reduced their price objective on shares of Cognex from $41.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Cognex from $55.00 to $46.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of Cognex from $46.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $49.17.

Cognex Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ CGNX traded up $0.18 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $40.41. 1,460,817 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,284,564. Cognex Co. has a 52 week low of $34.79 and a 52 week high of $53.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.93 billion, a PE ratio of 77.71 and a beta of 1.41. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $39.39 and its 200 day moving average price is $42.91.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.11 by $0.03. Cognex had a net margin of 10.10% and a return on equity of 5.34%. The company had revenue of $234.74 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $229.86 million. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Cognex Co. will post 0.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognex Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 14th. This is an increase from Cognex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.79%. Cognex’s payout ratio is currently 61.54%.

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.