Vontobel Holding Ltd. Grows Stock Holdings in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. boosted its holdings in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 41.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 42,905 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after buying an additional 12,581 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in Cognex were worth $1,539,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of Cognex by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,784,239 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $72,262,000 after purchasing an additional 87,790 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cognex during the 3rd quarter valued at $790,000. Premier Fund Managers Ltd grew its position in shares of Cognex by 255.1% during the 3rd quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 24,854 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,001,000 after purchasing an additional 17,854 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Cognex by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,386,973 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $56,172,000 after purchasing an additional 77,146 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ceredex Value Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Cognex by 116.0% during the 3rd quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 789,550 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $31,977,000 after purchasing an additional 423,950 shares in the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Cognex to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Cognex in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Truist Financial reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $37.00 target price (down from $43.00) on shares of Cognex in a research report on Friday. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Cognex from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC cut their target price on shares of Cognex from $47.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.92.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Anthony Sun sold 26,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.03, for a total transaction of $1,040,780.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 26,608 shares in the company, valued at $1,065,118.24. This represents a 49.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CTO Joerg Kuechen sold 2,934 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.75, for a total transaction of $110,758.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CGNX opened at $33.20 on Tuesday. Cognex Co. has a 1 year low of $32.41 and a 1 year high of $53.13. The company’s 50-day moving average is $37.69 and its 200 day moving average is $38.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 63.85 and a beta of 1.40.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.15 by ($0.01). Cognex had a net margin of 10.10% and a return on equity of 5.28%. Research analysts anticipate that Cognex Co. will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.96%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 27th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 61.54%.

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.