9,809 Shares in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) Purchased by Prudential PLC

Posted by Defense World Staff on May 19th, 2023

Prudential PLC bought a new position in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX – Get Rating) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm bought 9,809 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $462,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. AIA Group Ltd grew its holdings in Cognex by 945.1% during the 4th quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 11,611 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $547,000 after acquiring an additional 10,500 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in Cognex during the 3rd quarter worth about $172,000. Brinker Capital Investments LLC grew its holdings in Cognex by 45.8% during the 3rd quarter. Brinker Capital Investments LLC now owns 58,048 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $2,406,000 after acquiring an additional 18,221 shares during the last quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ grew its holdings in Cognex by 46.6% during the 4th quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 61,368 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $2,889,000 after acquiring an additional 19,498 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SVB Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cognex by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. SVB Wealth LLC now owns 27,417 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,137,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.24% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Stock Performance

Shares of CGNX stock opened at $52.20 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $9.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.20 and a beta of 1.60. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $48.75 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $49.44. Cognex Co. has a 52 week low of $40.21 and a 52 week high of $58.12.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX – Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 16th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.32 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 net margin of 18.79% and a return on equity of 11.59%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.30 EPS. Analysts forecast that Cognex Co. will post 0.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed 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 is Thursday, May 18th. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.54%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.00%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Patrick Alias sold 4,375 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.53, for a total value of $216,693.75. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $45.00 target price on shares of Cognex in a research note on Tuesday, February 21st. Northcoast Research lowered shares of Cognex from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 1st. Credit Suisse Group raised shares of Cognex from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from $41.00 to $44.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 23rd. Cowen reduced their target price on shares of Cognex from $50.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Friday, February 17th. Finally, TheStreet lowered shares of Cognex from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a research note on Friday, May 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $50.17.

Cognex 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.