M&T Bank Corp Lowers Position in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

M&T Bank Corp decreased its stake in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 2.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 65,745 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 1,678 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in Cognex were worth $2,744,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new position in shares of Cognex during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. increased its position in shares of Cognex by 71.1% during the third quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 804 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 334 shares during the last quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Cognex by 71.8% during the fourth quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,295 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 541 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in Cognex in the fourth quarter worth $106,000. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its stake in Cognex by 11.9% in the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,760 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $115,000 after purchasing an additional 294 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on CGNX. 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 research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Stephens increased their target price on shares of Cognex from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Cognex from $36.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Monday. StockNews.com lowered Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, February 19th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on Cognex from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Cognex presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $49.15.

Cognex Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of Cognex stock opened at $46.32 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $41.10 and its 200-day moving average price is $39.07. Cognex Co. has a 12-month low of $34.28 and a 12-month high of $59.51. The company has a market cap of $7.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 79.86 and a beta of 1.48.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.11 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $196.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $189.16 million. Cognex had a net margin of 11.76% and a return on equity of 6.81%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 17.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.27 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Cognex Co. will post 0.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $0.075 per share. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. Cognex’s payout ratio is 51.72%.

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.