Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Purchases 9,485 Shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its position in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 34.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 37,280 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,485 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in Cognex were worth $1,556,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. bought a new position in Cognex during the 4th quarter valued at $703,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in Cognex during the 4th quarter valued at $2,016,000. WCM Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Cognex by 49.4% during the 4th quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 402,248 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $17,120,000 after acquiring an additional 132,991 shares in the last quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Cognex by 71.8% during the 4th quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,295 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $54,000 after acquiring an additional 541 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC bought a new position in Cognex during the 4th quarter valued at $239,000. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Cognex Stock Performance

Shares of CGNX opened at $39.79 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $40.35 and a 200 day moving average of $38.81. Cognex Co. has a fifty-two week low of $34.28 and a fifty-two week high of $59.51. The firm has a market cap of $6.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.29 and a beta of 1.49.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.04. Cognex had a return on equity of 6.86% and a net margin of 13.52%. The company had revenue of $196.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $189.16 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.27 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 17.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Cognex Co. will post 0.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were issued a dividend of $0.075 per share. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 28th. Cognex’s payout ratio is presently 45.46%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Cognex

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

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.