BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. Grows Position in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. grew its stake in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 6.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 112,491 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after buying an additional 6,723 shares during the quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. owned approximately 0.07% of Cognex worth $5,260,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Truist Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of Cognex by 24.5% during the 4th quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 106,743 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $4,455,000 after buying an additional 20,976 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in Cognex by 99.3% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 46,877 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,957,000 after purchasing an additional 23,353 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Cognex by 20.9% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 37,020 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,545,000 after purchasing an additional 6,404 shares during the period. New York Life Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Cognex during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $817,000. Finally, Welch & Forbes LLC raised its position in shares of Cognex by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC now owns 311,329 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $12,995,000 after buying an additional 3,760 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on shares of Cognex from $48.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. StockNews.com upgraded Cognex from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Cognex from $45.00 to $39.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Cognex from $46.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $45.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a report on Monday, August 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $49.62.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cognex

In other Cognex news, Director Dianne M. Parrotte bought 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $38.62 per share, for a total transaction of $77,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 11,340 shares in the company, valued at $437,950.80. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Cognex Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of CGNX opened at $40.38 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $44.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $43.26. The company has a market cap of $6.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 69.62 and a beta of 1.42. Cognex Co. has a twelve month low of $34.28 and a twelve month high of $53.13.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.03. Cognex had a net margin of 9.29% and a return on equity of 4.97%. The company had revenue of $239.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $240.33 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.32 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Cognex Co. will post 0.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th were issued a dividend of $0.075 per share. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. Cognex’s payout ratio is currently 51.72%.

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.