AIA Group Ltd Lowers Holdings in Cognex Corporation $CGNX

AIA Group Ltd trimmed its holdings in shares of Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 40.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 32,805 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 22,478 shares during the period. AIA Group Ltd’s holdings in Cognex were worth $1,486,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Quent Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Cognex during the third quarter worth $26,000. REAP Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Cognex in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in Cognex by 402.2% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 919 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 736 shares during the last quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. purchased a new position in Cognex in the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 74.8% during the third quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 764 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 327 shares during the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cognex Trading Down 2.0%

Shares of NASDAQ CGNX opened at $49.24 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 73.49 and a beta of 1.46. Cognex Corporation has a one year low of $22.67 and a one year high of $59.88. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $47.49 and a 200 day simple moving average of $43.40.

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

Cognex Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 26th were paid a dividend of $0.085 per share. This represents a $0.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 26th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is 50.75%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CGNX has been the topic of a number of research reports. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on Cognex from $47.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Cognex in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Robert W. Baird set a $55.00 target price on Cognex in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $63.00 price target on shares of Cognex in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Cognex has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $57.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Laura Ann Macdonald sold 14,881 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.16, for a total transaction of $850,597.96. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 2,212 shares in the company, valued at $126,437.92. The trade was a 87.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Robert Willett sold 177,052 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.39, for a total transaction of $10,338,066.28. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 196,083 shares of company stock valued at $11,419,321. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Cognex

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.