Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) Shares Sold by Swiss National Bank

Posted by Defense World Staff on May 12th, 2023

Swiss National Bank cut its stake in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX – Get Rating) by 6.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 704,800 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 48,180 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank owned approximately 0.41% of Cognex worth $33,203,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Baillie Gifford & Co. acquired a new position in Cognex during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $49,564,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Cognex by 25.4% during the third quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 4,365,212 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $180,938,000 after purchasing an additional 883,697 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Cognex by 7.8% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 11,389,529 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $472,094,000 after purchasing an additional 826,402 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its stake in shares of Cognex by 16.2% during the third quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,142,704 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $213,165,000 after purchasing an additional 717,206 shares during the period. Finally, Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN increased its stake in shares of Cognex by 31.4% in the third quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 2,333,354 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $96,718,000 after buying an additional 557,535 shares during the last quarter. 91.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on CGNX. Northcoast Research lowered shares of Cognex from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 1st. Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of Cognex from $50.00 to $48.00 in a report on Friday, February 17th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Cognex in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. TheStreet downgraded shares of Cognex from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a report on Friday, May 5th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on shares of Cognex from $54.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 17th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $50.17.

Cognex Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of Cognex stock opened at $50.13 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $48.51 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $49.25. The stock has a market cap of $8.65 billion, a PE ratio of 50.13 and a beta of 1.60. Cognex Co. has a 52 week low of $40.21 and a 52 week high of $58.12.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 16th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $239.43 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $245.09 million. Cognex had a return on equity of 11.59% and a net margin of 18.79%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.30 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Cognex Co. will post 0.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 19th will be issued a $0.07 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 18th. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.56%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is 28.00%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Theodor Krantz sold 912 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.39, for a total value of $44,131.68. Following the transaction, the director now owns 35,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,717,845. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, Director Patrick Alias sold 4,375 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.53, for a total value of $216,693.75. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Theodor Krantz sold 912 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.39, for a total value of $44,131.68. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 35,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,717,845. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 5,887 shares of company stock worth $290,525 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Company Profile

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Cognex Corp. engages in the provision of machine vision products and solutions. Its products include vision sensors, vision systems, 3D vision systems, barcode readers, barcode verifiers, vision software, and vision tools. Its solutions include alignment, dimensioning, item detection, edge intelligence, logistics barcode reading systems and tunnels, water identification, and tire inspection.