Bank of New York Mellon Corp Boosts Stake in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 16.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,635,838 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after acquiring an additional 236,540 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned approximately 0.95% of Cognex worth $76,492,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Contour Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Cognex during the fourth quarter valued at about $11,454,000. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in Cognex by 38.4% during the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 64,855 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $2,751,000 after acquiring an additional 17,978 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Cognex by 1.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,522,549 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $743,307,000 after acquiring an additional 188,485 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in Cognex by 153.6% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 134,516 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $5,706,000 after acquiring an additional 81,467 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in Cognex by 30.5% during the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 870,822 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $36,940,000 after acquiring an additional 203,684 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Cognex news, Director Dianne M. Parrotte purchased 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $38.62 per share, with a total value of $77,240.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 11,340 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $437,950.80. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CGNX opened at $40.00 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $44.69 and a 200 day simple moving average of $43.18. Cognex Co. has a one year low of $34.28 and a one year high of $53.13. The company has a market capitalization of $6.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 68.97 and a beta of 1.42.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $239.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $240.33 million. Cognex had a return on equity of 4.97% and a net margin of 9.29%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.32 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Cognex Co. will post 0.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were issued a $0.075 dividend. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 15th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.72%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CGNX has been the subject of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Cognex from $45.00 to $39.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Cognex from $46.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $45.00 target price on shares of Cognex in a research report on Monday, August 5th. StockNews.com raised Cognex from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on Cognex from $48.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $49.62.

Cognex Profile

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.