Vontobel Holding Ltd. Has $1.25 Million Stock Holdings in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. trimmed its position in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 10.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 30,042 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 3,331 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in Cognex were worth $1,254,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Cognex Stock Down 0.6 %

NASDAQ CGNX opened at $38.46 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $6.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.27 and a beta of 1.49. Cognex Co. has a 52 week low of $34.28 and a 52 week high of $59.51. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $40.13 and a 200-day moving average price of $38.88.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $196.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $189.16 million. Cognex had a return on equity of 6.86% and a net margin of 13.52%. Cognex’s quarterly revenue was down 17.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.27 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Cognex Co. will post 0.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 28th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.78%. Cognex’s payout ratio is 45.46%.

Insider Activity at Cognex

In related news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,782 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total transaction of $274,942.28. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Truist Financial assumed coverage on Cognex in a report on Thursday, March 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $47.00 target price for the company. UBS Group upgraded Cognex from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $42.00 to $54.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Cognex from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, February 19th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Cognex currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $47.70.

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.