Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) Shares Acquired by CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC

CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC grew its position in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 129.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,007 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 569 shares during the period. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Cognex were worth $36,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of CGNX. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cognex by 17.5% in the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 18,813 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $762,000 after purchasing an additional 2,799 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Cognex by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,386,973 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $56,172,000 after purchasing an additional 77,146 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in shares of Cognex by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 174,632 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $7,073,000 after purchasing an additional 620 shares in the last quarter. AM Squared Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Cognex by 4,566.7% in the 3rd quarter. AM Squared Ltd now owns 2,100 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $85,000 after purchasing an additional 2,055 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in Cognex during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $336,000. 88.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on CGNX. Citigroup reduced their price target on Cognex from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on Cognex from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. HSBC lowered Cognex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $33.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Cognex in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Hsbc Global Res lowered Cognex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $44.83.

Cognex Trading Up 4.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ CGNX opened at $31.51 on Friday. Cognex Co. has a twelve month low of $30.04 and a twelve month high of $53.13. The company has a market capitalization of $5.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.66 and a beta of 1.43. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $36.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.04.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last issued 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%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Cognex Co. will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.02%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.46%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 4,566 shares in the company, valued at $149,445.18. This represents a 59.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

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.