TCW Group Inc. Has $18.98 Million Position in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

TCW Group Inc. cut its position in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 9.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 529,324 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 53,826 shares during the quarter. TCW Group Inc. owned 0.31% of Cognex worth $18,982,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew 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 worth $72,262,000 after buying an additional 87,790 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Cognex during the third quarter worth about $790,000. Premier Fund Managers Ltd grew its position in Cognex by 255.1% during 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 buying an additional 17,854 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its position in Cognex by 5.9% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,386,973 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $56,172,000 after buying an additional 77,146 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ceredex Value Advisors LLC grew its position in Cognex by 116.0% during the third quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 789,550 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $31,977,000 after buying an additional 423,950 shares in the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cognex Trading Down 1.8 %

NASDAQ:CGNX opened at $32.80 on Friday. Cognex Co. has a 1 year low of $32.35 and a 1 year high of $53.13. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $37.35 and a 200-day moving average of $38.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.77 and a beta of 1.40.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) 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, analysts forecast that Cognex Co. will post 0.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th will be given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 27th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CTO Joerg Kuechen sold 2,934 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.75, for a total value of $110,758.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Truist Financial reissued a “hold” rating and set a $37.00 target price (down from $43.00) on shares of Cognex in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on Cognex from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on Cognex from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Cognex from $58.00 to $56.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cognex currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $44.83.

About Cognex

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.