Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) Shares Acquired by SRS Capital Advisors Inc.

SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 50.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 885 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 295 shares during the period. SRS Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Cognex were worth $32,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Cognex by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 5,616 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $201,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares in the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its stake in Cognex by 30.8% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 1,346 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 317 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. raised its stake in Cognex by 9.4% during the third quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 4,055 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $164,000 after acquiring an additional 349 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc. raised its stake in Cognex by 50.2% during the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 1,047 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 350 shares during the period. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Cognex by 123.1% during the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 714 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 394 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on CGNX shares. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Cognex from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Cognex to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. HSBC lowered shares of Cognex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $33.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on shares of Cognex from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given 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 $44.83.

Insider Activity

In related news, CTO Joerg Kuechen sold 2,934 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.75, for a total transaction of $110,758.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.73, for a total transaction of $222,662.19. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 4,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $149,445.18. The trade was a 59.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Price Performance

Cognex stock opened at $33.97 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $36.59 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.77 billion, a PE ratio of 55.69 and a beta of 1.40. Cognex Co. has a 12-month low of $31.06 and a 12-month high of $53.13.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 forecast that Cognex Co. will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 27th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.46%.

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.