Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Grows Stock Holdings in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 35.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,891,602 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after buying an additional 497,341 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD’s holdings in Cognex were worth $67,834,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Cognex in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 295 shares during the period. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in Cognex by 129.9% in 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 buying an additional 569 shares in the last quarter. Clean Yield Group lifted its holdings in Cognex by 1,686.7% during the fourth quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 1,072 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 1,012 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. boosted its position in Cognex by 50.2% during 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 acquiring an additional 350 shares in the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on CGNX shares. UBS Group cut their price target on Cognex from $58.00 to $56.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Cowen upgraded Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Needham & Company LLC cut their price target on Cognex from $47.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. TD Cowen upgraded Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $35.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday. Finally, HSBC downgraded Cognex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $33.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Friday, February 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.23.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cognex news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 4,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $149,445.18. The trade was a 59.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Cognex Price Performance

Cognex stock opened at $26.92 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $28.95 and a 200-day moving average price of $35.26. Cognex Co. has a 1-year low of $22.67 and a 1-year high of $53.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.13 and a beta of 1.56.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by ($0.01). Cognex had a return on equity of 5.65% and a net margin of 11.61%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Cognex Co. will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.19%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.46%.

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.