WCM Investment Management LLC Raises Holdings in Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX)

WCM Investment Management LLC increased its position in Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 0.3% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 344,756 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 910 shares during the period. WCM Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Cognex were worth $10,346,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Cognex by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,427,756 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $51,199,000 after acquiring an additional 42,292 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Cognex by 75.1% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,870 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $102,000 after acquiring an additional 1,231 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank grew its holdings in shares of Cognex by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 337,300 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $12,096,000 after purchasing an additional 2,200 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Cognex by 7,515.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 31,679 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $945,000 after purchasing an additional 31,263 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Cognex in the fourth quarter worth $1,215,000. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on CGNX. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Cognex from $37.00 to $29.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Cognex from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, June 16th. Cowen raised Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Cognex from $56.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $35.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $39.17.

Cognex Trading Up 2.3%

NASDAQ:CGNX opened at $32.78 on Thursday. Cognex Corporation has a twelve month low of $22.67 and a twelve month high of $53.13. The company has a market cap of $5.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 48.21 and a beta of 1.47. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $29.98 and a 200-day simple moving average of $32.20.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th were paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 15th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.06%.

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.