Cerity Partners LLC Buys 14,454 Shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Cerity Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 19.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 87,461 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,454 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC owned approximately 0.05% of Cognex worth $3,401,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CGNX. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Cognex during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Cognex by 50.0% during the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 885 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 295 shares in the last quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of Cognex by 129.9% during the fourth quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 1,007 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 569 shares during the period. Clean Yield Group lifted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 1,686.7% in the 4th quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 1,072 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 1,012 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. grew its position in Cognex by 50.2% in the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 1,047 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 350 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.73, for a total value of $222,662.19. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 4,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $149,445.18. The trade was a 59.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on CGNX. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Cognex to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Citigroup cut their price target on Cognex from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded Cognex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Truist Financial dropped their target price on Cognex from $37.00 to $29.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, HSBC downgraded Cognex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $33.00 price target for the company. in a report on Friday, February 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $44.17.

Cognex Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CGNX opened at $23.95 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.26 and a beta of 1.56. The company’s 50-day moving average is $31.55 and its 200 day moving average is $36.41. Cognex Co. has a fifty-two week low of $22.67 and a fifty-two week high of $53.13.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last released its 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, research analysts predict that Cognex Co. will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.34%. Cognex’s payout ratio is presently 52.46%.

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.