State of Michigan Retirement System Has $1.79 Million Position in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

State of Michigan Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 2.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 42,253 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares during the period. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in Cognex were worth $1,792,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Cognex by 34.3% during the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 13,208 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $560,000 after acquiring an additional 3,375 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its position in shares of Cognex by 4.2% during the 1st quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 11,514 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $488,000 after acquiring an additional 468 shares in the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV boosted its position in shares of Cognex by 94.4% during the 1st quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 589 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 286 shares in the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Cognex by 1,239.7% during the 1st quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 777 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 719 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HighPoint Advisor Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cognex during the 4th quarter valued at about $239,000. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cognex Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ CGNX opened at $47.16 on Friday. Cognex Co. has a 1-year low of $34.28 and a 1-year high of $59.51. The company has a market cap of $8.10 billion, a PE ratio of 81.31 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a 50-day moving average of $45.77 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.72.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.05 earnings per share for the quarter. The business had revenue of $210.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $198.14 million. Cognex had a net margin of 11.76% and a return on equity of 6.81%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Cognex Co. will post 0.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th were paid a dividend of $0.075 per share. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 15th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.72%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on shares of Cognex from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. HSBC upgraded shares of Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $52.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 7th. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Cognex from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. UBS Group upgraded shares of Cognex from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $42.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Cognex from $36.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, May 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $49.54.

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.