GW&K Investment Management LLC Sells 51,888 Shares of Cognex Corporation $CGNX

GW&K Investment Management LLC reduced its position in shares of Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 3.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,622,197 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 51,888 shares during the period. GW&K Investment Management LLC owned 0.97% of Cognex worth $73,485,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its position in Cognex by 12.9% in the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 2,132 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $68,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lifted its position in shares of Cognex by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 14,611 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $662,000 after buying an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Cognex by 10.6% in the 2nd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 2,788 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $88,000 after buying an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of Cognex by 0.6% in the third quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 49,651 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $2,249,000 after acquiring an additional 285 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Centaurus Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Cognex by 8.1% during the second quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 4,021 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $128,000 after acquiring an additional 303 shares during the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on CGNX shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $35.00 price target (down from $45.00) on shares of Cognex in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Cognex in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective (up from $50.00) on shares of Cognex in a research report on Friday, February 13th. DA Davidson set a $55.00 target price on shares of Cognex and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Cognex from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Cognex presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $55.21.

Insider Activity at Cognex

In other news, Director Angelos Papadimitriou sold 4,150 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.58, for a total value of $230,657.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 16,222 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $901,618.76. This represents a 20.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Laura Ann Macdonald sold 14,881 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the vice president directly owned 2,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $126,437.92. This represents a 87.06% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have sold 196,083 shares of company stock worth $11,419,321. 1.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Cognex Stock Down 0.8%

CGNX opened at $53.17 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $44.43 and a 200-day moving average price of $42.87. Cognex Corporation has a twelve month low of $22.67 and a twelve month high of $59.88. The company has a market capitalization of $8.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 79.36 and a beta of 1.46.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.05. Cognex had a net margin of 11.51% and a return on equity of 9.02%. The company had revenue of $252.34 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $238.92 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.16 EPS. Cognex’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Cognex Corporation will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 26th will be given a $0.085 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 26th. This represents a $0.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Cognex’s payout ratio is 50.75%.

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.