TCW Group Inc. Has $18.98 Million Stock Holdings in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

TCW Group Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 9.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 529,324 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 53,826 shares during the period. TCW Group Inc.’s holdings in Cognex were worth $18,982,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CGNX. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of Cognex by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 5,616 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $201,000 after buying an additional 270 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cognex by 30.8% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 1,346 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 317 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Cognex by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 4,055 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $164,000 after buying an additional 349 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Cognex by 50.2% in the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 1,047 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 350 shares during the period. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Cognex by 123.1% in the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 714 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 394 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CGNX has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of Cognex from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Cognex in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. HSBC lowered shares of Cognex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $33.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday. Needham & Company LLC reduced their target price on shares of Cognex from $47.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Cognex from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $44.83.

Cognex Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CGNX opened at $32.80 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $37.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $38.75. Cognex Co. has a one year low of $32.35 and a one year high of $53.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.57 billion, a PE ratio of 53.77 and a beta of 1.40.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.15 by ($0.01). Cognex had a return on equity of 5.65% and a net margin of 11.61%. On average, analysts anticipate that Cognex Co. will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.98%. Cognex’s payout ratio is 52.46%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CTO Joerg Kuechen sold 2,934 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.75, for a total value of $110,758.50. 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.

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.