Fred Alger Management LLC Sells 498,179 Shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Fred Alger Management LLC lessened its position in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX – Get Rating) by 72.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 186,315 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 498,179 shares during the period. Fred Alger Management LLC’s holdings in Cognex were worth $7,723,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Utah Retirement Systems grew its holdings in Cognex by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Utah Retirement Systems now owns 30,695 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,272,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. SVB Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cognex by 0.9% during 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 in the last quarter. United Services Automobile Association boosted its stake in shares of Cognex by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. United Services Automobile Association now owns 19,276 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $800,000 after purchasing an additional 362 shares in the last quarter. Sit Investment Associates Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Cognex by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. Sit Investment Associates Inc. now owns 10,350 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $440,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Cognex by 25.8% during the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,955 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $80,000 after purchasing an additional 401 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.24% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of CGNX stock opened at $48.03 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $51.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $47.72. Cognex Co. has a 52 week low of $40.21 and a 52 week high of $80.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.29 billion, a PE ratio of 39.05 and a beta of 1.60.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 16th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.01. Cognex had a net margin of 21.42% and a return on equity of 16.42%. The firm had revenue of $239.43 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $245.09 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.30 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Cognex Co. will post 0.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 3rd will be paid a $0.07 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 2nd. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.58%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.76%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on CGNX shares. Northcoast Research lowered shares of Cognex from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 1st. TheStreet raised shares of Cognex from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Friday, February 17th. Cowen lowered their price target on shares of Cognex from $50.00 to $48.00 in a research report on Friday, February 17th. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $45.00 price target on shares of Cognex in a research report on Tuesday, February 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut shares of Cognex from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $41.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 17th. 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. According to data from MarketBeat, Cognex presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $50.00.

Insider Transactions at Cognex

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 shares were sold at an average price of $49.53, for a total transaction of $216,693.75. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed 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 shares were sold at an average price of $49.53, for a total transaction of $216,693.75. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 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 transaction of $44,131.68. Following the sale, the director now owns 35,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,717,845. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 16,287 shares of company stock worth $883,325 over the last three months. 4.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Cognex

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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.