Macquarie Group Ltd. Boosts Stock Holdings in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Macquarie Group Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX – Get Rating) by 144.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 40,918 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after buying an additional 24,178 shares during the period. Macquarie Group Ltd.’s holdings in Cognex were worth $1,696,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wipfli Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Cognex during the third quarter valued at about $48,000. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cognex during the third quarter worth about $48,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 136.4% during the third quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,248 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 720 shares during the period. Wagner Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cognex during the second quarter worth about $55,000. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new stake in shares of Cognex during the first quarter worth about $108,000. 91.24% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Cognex

In related news, Director Patrick Alias sold 4,375 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.53, for a total transaction of $216,693.75. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director Patrick Alias sold 4,375 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.53, for a total transaction of $216,693.75. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Theodor Krantz sold 912 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.39, for a total transaction of $44,131.68. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 35,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,717,845. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 68,287 shares of company stock valued at $3,483,325 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 4.10% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CGNX opened at $47.47 on Friday. Cognex Co. has a fifty-two week low of $40.21 and a fifty-two week high of $80.30. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $51.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $47.62. The company has a market capitalization of $8.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.59 and a beta of 1.60.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 16th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.01. The company 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 quarterly revenue was down 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.30 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Cognex Co. will post 0.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, March 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.07 per share. This represents a $0.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 2nd. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.76%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Credit Suisse Group upgraded shares of Cognex from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $41.00 to $44.00 in a report on Thursday, February 23rd. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on shares of Cognex from $54.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 17th. TheStreet raised shares of Cognex from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Friday, February 17th. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of Cognex in a research note on Tuesday, February 21st. Finally, Cowen downgraded shares of Cognex from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $55.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $50.00.

Cognex Company 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.