Russell Investments Group Ltd. Lowers Holdings in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. lowered its holdings in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 11.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 143,155 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 18,489 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned approximately 0.08% of Cognex worth $5,975,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CGNX. United Services Automobile Association raised its position in Cognex by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. United Services Automobile Association now owns 11,682 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $496,000 after purchasing an additional 279 shares in the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its holdings in Cognex by 11.9% in the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,760 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $115,000 after acquiring an additional 294 shares in the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lifted its stake in Cognex by 0.4% in the third quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 78,043 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $3,312,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its holdings in Cognex by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 13,374 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $568,000 after acquiring an additional 313 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. increased its position in shares of Cognex by 71.1% in the 3rd quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 804 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 334 shares during the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on CGNX. Stephens lifted their price target on Cognex from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Cognex from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Citigroup raised their price objective on Cognex from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. HSBC raised Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $52.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of Cognex from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $49.15.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cognex

In related news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,782 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total transaction of $274,942.28. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Cognex Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of Cognex stock opened at $46.32 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $41.10 and a two-hundred day moving average of $39.07. Cognex Co. has a 12-month low of $34.28 and a 12-month high of $59.51. The stock has a market cap of $7.95 billion, a PE ratio of 79.86 and a beta of 1.48.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $196.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $189.16 million. Cognex had a return on equity of 6.81% and a net margin of 11.76%. Cognex’s quarterly revenue was down 17.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.27 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Cognex Co. will post 0.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.65%. Cognex’s payout ratio is 51.72%.

About Cognex

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.