Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Acquires 47,811 Shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 42.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 160,043 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 47,811 shares during the quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in Cognex were worth $5,739,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Cognex by 5.2% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,784,239 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $72,262,000 after purchasing an additional 87,790 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,427,756 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $51,199,000 after buying an additional 42,292 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cognex in the 3rd quarter worth $790,000. Premier Fund Managers Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Cognex by 255.1% in the third quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 24,854 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,001,000 after acquiring an additional 17,854 shares during the period. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its position in Cognex by 75.1% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,870 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $102,000 after acquiring an additional 1,231 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cognex news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CGNX has been the topic of several research reports. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Cognex from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Needham & Company LLC cut their target price on shares of Cognex from $47.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Cognex in a research report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Cognex from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Truist Financial reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $37.00 target price (down from $43.00) on shares of Cognex in a report on Friday, February 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $44.83.

Cognex Trading Up 4.1 %

NASDAQ CGNX opened at $31.51 on Friday. Cognex Co. has a 12 month low of $30.04 and a 12 month high of $53.13. The stock has a market cap of $5.35 billion, a PE ratio of 51.66 and a beta of 1.43. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $36.18 and its 200 day moving average is $38.04.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last issued 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, analysts forecast that Cognex Co. will post 0.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The company 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. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.02%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.