UBS Group AG Acquires 89,048 Shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

UBS Group AG raised its holdings in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX – Get Rating) by 78.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 203,105 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after acquiring an additional 89,048 shares during the period. UBS Group AG owned approximately 0.12% of Cognex worth $9,568,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Allworth Financial LP raised its position in shares of Cognex by 86.6% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 793 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 368 shares during the last quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cognex by 58.7% in the 4th quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC now owns 833 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 308 shares during the period. Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cognex by 136.4% in the 3rd quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,248 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 720 shares during the period. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of Cognex in the 3rd quarter valued at $68,000. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Cognex by 25.8% in 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 buying an additional 401 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.24% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on CGNX. Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Cognex from $50.00 to $48.00 in a report on Friday, February 17th. Credit Suisse Group raised shares of Cognex from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $41.00 to $44.00 in a report on Thursday, February 23rd. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on shares of Cognex from $54.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 17th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Cognex from $48.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Friday, May 5th. Finally, TheStreet lowered shares of Cognex from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a research note on Friday, May 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned 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 $50.17.

Cognex Stock Performance

Shares of CGNX stock opened at $52.10 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $49.05 and its 200-day moving average is $49.68. The stock has a market cap of $8.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.10 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 Dividend Announcement

The company 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 is Thursday, May 18th. This represents a $0.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.54%. Cognex’s payout ratio is 28.00%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Patrick Alias sold 4,375 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 6th. The shares were 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 SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.