Principal Financial Group Inc. Trims Holdings in Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 0.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 390,985 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 2,477 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.23% of Cognex worth $11,663,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Cognex by 439.4% in the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 971 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 791 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cognex by 155.3% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,062 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 646 shares during the period. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cognex by 129.9% in the 4th quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 1,007 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 569 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in Cognex by 105.5% in the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,280 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 657 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Global X Japan Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Cognex during the first quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on CGNX. Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on shares of Cognex from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 11th. TD Cowen raised Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $35.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th. Citigroup decreased their price target on Cognex from $37.00 to $26.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Cognex from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Cognex from $37.00 to $29.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $40.77.

Cognex Price Performance

Shares of CGNX stock opened at $34.34 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $30.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $31.98. Cognex Corporation has a 1-year low of $22.67 and a 1-year high of $53.13. The company has a market cap of $5.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.50 and a beta of 1.47.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th were issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.93%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.06%.

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.