American International Group Inc. Cuts Position in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

American International Group Inc. decreased its holdings in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 4.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 232,529 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 10,218 shares during the quarter. American International Group Inc. owned about 0.14% of Cognex worth $9,706,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Cognex by 17.8% in the 3rd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 5,536,355 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $234,962,000 after purchasing an additional 837,487 shares in the last quarter. Brown Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Cognex by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Brown Capital Management LLC now owns 5,419,313 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $226,202,000 after acquiring an additional 262,003 shares during the period. Impax Asset Management Group plc lifted its position in Cognex by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,842,978 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $118,666,000 after acquiring an additional 31,483 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Cognex by 10.2% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,082,608 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $88,386,000 after acquiring an additional 192,206 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in Cognex by 156.5% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,065,693 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $86,862,000 after acquiring an additional 1,260,282 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of Cognex stock opened at $46.78 on Wednesday. Cognex Co. has a twelve month low of $34.28 and a twelve month high of $59.51. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $44.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.09. The firm has a market cap of $8.03 billion, a PE ratio of 80.66 and a beta of 1.45.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.05 earnings per share for the quarter. Cognex had a return on equity of 6.81% and a net margin of 11.76%. The firm had revenue of $210.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $198.14 million. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Cognex Co. will post 0.45 EPS for the current year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th were paid a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.64%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.72%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CGNX has been the subject of a number of research reports. Stephens lifted their price target on Cognex from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Cognex from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on Cognex from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price objective (up previously from $47.00) on shares of Cognex in a report on Tuesday, May 7th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on Cognex from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $49.15.

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.