Equitable Trust Co. Acquires New Position in Cognex Corporation $CGNX

Equitable Trust Co. acquired a new position in shares of Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 8,663 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $392,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Royal Bank of Canada increased its holdings in shares of Cognex by 13.2% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 200,351 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $5,976,000 after buying an additional 23,326 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new position in Cognex in the first quarter worth approximately $291,000. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its position in Cognex by 24.1% in the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 47,444 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,415,000 after acquiring an additional 9,223 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in Cognex by 402.2% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 919 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 736 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its position in Cognex by 1.3% in the second quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,422,366 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $45,117,000 after purchasing an additional 17,608 shares during the period. 88.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cognex news, Director Robert Willett sold 177,052 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.39, for a total value of $10,338,066.28. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Laura Ann Macdonald sold 14,881 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.16, for a total value of $850,597.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 2,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $126,437.92. The trade was a 87.06% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 196,083 shares of company stock worth $11,419,321 in the last quarter. 1.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Cognex Stock Performance

NASDAQ CGNX opened at $57.88 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $9.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 86.39 and a beta of 1.53. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $42.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.37. Cognex Corporation has a one year low of $22.67 and a one year high of $59.88.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $252.34 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $238.92 million. Cognex had a net margin of 11.51% and a return on equity of 9.02%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.16 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Cognex Corporation will post 0.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.085 per share. This represents a $0.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 26th. Cognex’s payout ratio is presently 50.75%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CGNX has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. DA Davidson set a $55.00 price target on Cognex and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Zacks Research raised shares of Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Cognex from $50.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $35.00 price target (down from $45.00) on shares of Cognex in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Cognex in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $55.21.

Cognex Company Profile

Cognex Corporation is a leading provider of machine vision systems, software, sensors and industrial barcode readers used to automate manufacturing, logistics and distribution processes. The company designs and develops vision-based products that help manufacturers and logistics operators inspect, identify and guide parts, assemblies and packaged goods in real time. Its solutions are applied in a broad range of industries, including automotive, electronics, semiconductor, pharmaceutical, food and beverage, and general manufacturing.

The company’s product portfolio includes stand-alone vision systems, vision sensors and deep learning-based software platforms that enable automated inspection, quality control and traceability.