Impax Asset Management Group plc Cuts Stake in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Impax Asset Management Group plc lowered its stake in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 2.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,082,314 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 147,957 shares during the period. Impax Asset Management Group plc owned 2.96% of Cognex worth $181,782,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its holdings in Cognex by 14.6% during the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 45,500 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,632,000 after buying an additional 5,800 shares in the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cognex by 653.6% in the fourth quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 59,785 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $2,144,000 after purchasing an additional 51,852 shares in the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its position in Cognex by 30.8% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 1,346 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 317 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its stake in Cognex by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 5,616 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $201,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. raised its stake in Cognex by 50.2% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Cognex Trading Down 1.8 %

NASDAQ:CGNX opened at $32.80 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $5.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.77 and a beta of 1.40. Cognex Co. has a twelve month low of $32.35 and a twelve month high of $53.13. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $37.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.76.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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, equities research analysts predict that Cognex Co. will post 0.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on CGNX. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Cognex from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Cognex from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Needham & Company LLC lowered their price objective on Cognex from $47.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th. HSBC downgraded Cognex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $33.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Friday. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on Cognex from $58.00 to $56.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $44.83.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cognex news, CTO Joerg Kuechen sold 2,934 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.75, for a total value of $110,758.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Cognex Company 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.