Mutual of America Capital Management LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Mutual of America Capital Management LLC reduced its position in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 5.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 106,397 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 5,625 shares during the period. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Cognex were worth $4,441,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 26,882 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,327,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares during the last quarter. United Services Automobile Association boosted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. United Services Automobile Association now owns 11,682 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $496,000 after purchasing an additional 279 shares during the last quarter. First Republic Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. First Republic Investment Management Inc. now owns 18,843 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $934,000 after purchasing an additional 280 shares during the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina boosted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 78,043 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $3,312,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 13,374 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $568,000 after purchasing an additional 313 shares during the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cognex Stock Performance

CGNX opened at $39.96 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $39.89 and a 200-day moving average of $38.92. The company has a market capitalization of $6.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.55 and a beta of 1.49. Cognex Co. has a 1-year low of $34.28 and a 1-year high of $59.51.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.04. Cognex had a net margin of 13.52% and a return on equity of 6.86%. The business had revenue of $196.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $189.16 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.27 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 17.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Cognex Co. will post 0.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 29th were given a dividend of $0.075 per share. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 28th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 45.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CGNX has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Truist Financial initiated coverage on shares of Cognex in a report on Thursday, March 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $47.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, February 19th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Cognex from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of Cognex from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $42.00 to $54.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $47.70.

Insider Activity at Cognex

In related news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,782 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total transaction of $274,942.28. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Company 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.