MML Investors Services LLC Acquires 2,695 Shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

MML Investors Services LLC boosted its holdings in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX – Get Rating) by 27.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,589 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,695 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC’s holdings in Cognex were worth $522,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. SVB Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Cognex by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. SVB Wealth LLC now owns 27,417 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,137,000 after acquiring an additional 256 shares during the period. Sit Investment Associates Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. Sit Investment Associates Inc. now owns 10,350 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $440,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 25.8% during the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,955 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $80,000 after buying an additional 401 shares during the period. National Pension Service boosted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 14.6% during the 2nd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 3,187 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $136,000 after buying an additional 407 shares during the period. Finally, Creative Planning boosted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 11,592 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $480,000 after buying an additional 417 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.24% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cognex

In other Cognex news, Director Theodor Krantz sold 52,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $2,600,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 36,108 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,805,400. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Cognex news, Director Theodor Krantz sold 52,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $2,600,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 36,108 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,805,400. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Patrick Alias sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.50, for a total transaction of $29,700.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 68,287 shares of company stock worth $3,483,325. 4.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Cognex Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CGNX opened at $48.50 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $8.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.43 and a beta of 1.60. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $51.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $47.58. Cognex Co. has a one year low of $40.21 and a one year high of $80.30.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 16th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $239.43 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $245.09 million. Cognex had a net margin of 21.42% and a return on equity of 16.42%. The firm’s revenue was down 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.30 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Cognex Co. will post 0.82 EPS for the current year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 3rd will be given a $0.07 dividend. This represents a $0.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 2nd. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.76%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on CGNX shares. TheStreet raised shares of Cognex from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Friday, February 17th. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $45.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a research note on Tuesday, February 21st. Northcoast Research downgraded shares of Cognex from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 1st. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Cognex from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $41.00 to $40.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 17th. Finally, Cowen cut their price objective on shares of Cognex from $50.00 to $48.00 in a report on Friday, February 17th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $50.00.

Cognex Profile

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Cognex Corp. engages in the provision of machine vision technologies. Its products are used to automate the manufacturing and tracking of discrete items, such as mobile phones, aspirin bottles, and automobile tires, by locating, identifying, inspecting, and measuring them during the manufacturing or distribution process.