Handelsbanken Fonder AB Acquires 5,800 Shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its position in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 14.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 45,500 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,800 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Cognex were worth $1,632,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Cognex by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,784,239 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $72,262,000 after acquiring an additional 87,790 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Cognex during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $790,000. Premier Fund Managers Ltd grew its holdings in Cognex by 255.1% during the 3rd quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 24,854 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,001,000 after buying an additional 17,854 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its holdings in Cognex by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,386,973 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $56,172,000 after buying an additional 77,146 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ceredex Value Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Cognex by 116.0% during the 3rd quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 789,550 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $31,977,000 after buying an additional 423,950 shares in the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cognex Price Performance

CGNX opened at $32.81 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $37.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.67. Cognex Co. has a 1 year low of $32.14 and a 1 year high of $53.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.57 billion, a PE ratio of 53.79 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 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by ($0.01). Cognex had a return on equity of 5.65% and a net margin of 11.61%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Cognex Co. will post 0.61 EPS for the current year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 Transactions at Cognex

In other news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.73, for a total transaction of $222,662.19. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 4,566 shares in the company, valued at approximately $149,445.18. The trade was a 59.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Joerg Kuechen sold 2,934 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.75, for a total value of $110,758.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CGNX. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Cognex from $58.00 to $56.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Cognex to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Citigroup decreased their target price on Cognex from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Cognex from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC cut their price target on Cognex from $47.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $44.83.

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.