Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 6,729 Shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its stake in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 1.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 393,462 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 6,729 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.23% of Cognex worth $14,110,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Cognex by 123.1% during the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 714 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 394 shares in the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC bought a new position in Cognex during the third quarter worth $36,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in Cognex during the third quarter worth $40,000. Principal Securities Inc. boosted its stake in Cognex by 50.2% during the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 1,047 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 350 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clean Yield Group lifted its stake in shares of Cognex by 1,686.7% in the fourth quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 1,072 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 1,012 shares in the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Cognex from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price objective on shares of Cognex from $47.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $37.00 price objective (down from $43.00) on shares of Cognex in a research note on Friday, February 14th. HSBC lowered shares of Cognex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $33.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Cognex from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $44.83.

Cognex Stock Performance

NASDAQ CGNX opened at $33.19 on Thursday. Cognex Co. has a 52-week low of $32.14 and a 52-week high of $53.13. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $37.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $38.67. The company has a market capitalization of $5.64 billion, a PE ratio of 54.41 and a beta of 1.40.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by ($0.01). Cognex had a return on equity of 5.65% and a net margin of 11.61%. As a group, analysts forecast that Cognex Co. will post 0.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.96%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CTO Joerg Kuechen sold 2,934 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.75, for a total value of $110,758.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.73, for a total transaction of $222,662.19. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 4,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $149,445.18. The trade was a 59.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.