Intech Investment Management LLC Has $1.99 Million Holdings in Cognex Corporation $CGNX

Intech Investment Management LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 44.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 43,851 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 35,125 shares during the quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Cognex were worth $1,986,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Quent Capital LLC bought a new position in Cognex in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. REAP Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cognex in the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in Cognex by 402.2% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 919 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 736 shares during the last quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Cognex during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. bought a new stake in Cognex during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cognex Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CGNX opened at $53.17 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $44.43 and a 200-day moving average price of $42.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 79.36 and a beta of 1.46. Cognex Corporation has a 1 year low of $22.67 and a 1 year high of $59.88.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.05. Cognex had a return on equity of 9.02% and a net margin of 11.51%.The company had revenue of $252.34 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $238.92 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.16 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Cognex Corporation 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 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 26th will be given a $0.085 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 26th. This represents a $0.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. Cognex’s payout ratio is currently 50.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cognex

In other news, Director Robert Willett sold 177,052 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.39, for a total value of $10,338,066.28. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Laura Ann Macdonald sold 14,881 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.16, for a total transaction of $850,597.96. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 2,212 shares in the company, valued at $126,437.92. The trade was a 87.06% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 196,083 shares of company stock worth $11,419,321 over the last three months. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CGNX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Cognex from $50.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Cognex in a report on Monday, December 29th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of Cognex in a research report on Friday, February 13th. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $70.00 price objective (up from $50.00) on shares of Cognex in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, DA Davidson set a $55.00 target price on shares of Cognex and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $55.21.

Cognex Company Profile

Cognex Corporation is a leading provider of machine vision systems, software, sensors and industrial barcode readers used to automate manufacturing, logistics and distribution processes. The company designs and develops vision-based products that help manufacturers and logistics operators inspect, identify and guide parts, assemblies and packaged goods in real time. Its solutions are applied in a broad range of industries, including automotive, electronics, semiconductor, pharmaceutical, food and beverage, and general manufacturing.

The company’s product portfolio includes stand-alone vision systems, vision sensors and deep learning-based software platforms that enable automated inspection, quality control and traceability.