Front Street Capital Management Inc. Purchases 20,960 Shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Front Street Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 2.0% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 1,061,641 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after acquiring an additional 20,960 shares during the period. Cognex makes up about 9.5% of Front Street Capital Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its largest position. Front Street Capital Management Inc. owned 0.62% of Cognex worth $49,555,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Cognex by 986.2% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,619,007 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $68,679,000 after acquiring an additional 1,469,961 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Cognex in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $58,641,000. Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of Cognex in the first quarter valued at approximately $58,502,000. Impax Asset Management Group plc boosted its position in shares of Cognex by 32.8% during the second quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 5,098,711 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $237,812,000 after buying an additional 1,259,116 shares during the last quarter. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Cognex by 41.4% during the first quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 3,716,623 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $157,659,000 after buying an additional 1,088,095 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on CGNX. Vertical Research initiated coverage on shares of Cognex in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $58.00 price objective on the stock. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on shares of Cognex from $48.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $45.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a research note on Monday, August 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Cognex from $45.00 to $39.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com raised Cognex from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $49.62.

Cognex Stock Performance

Shares of Cognex stock opened at $39.41 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 67.95 and a beta of 1.41. Cognex Co. has a 52-week low of $34.28 and a 52-week high of $53.13. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $41.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.24.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.03. Cognex had a net margin of 9.29% and a return on equity of 4.97%. The company had revenue of $239.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $240.33 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.32 EPS. Cognex’s revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Cognex Co. will post 0.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th were paid a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.76%. Cognex’s payout ratio is 51.72%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Dianne M. Parrotte bought 2,000 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $38.62 per share, with a total value of $77,240.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 11,340 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $437,950.80. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Dennis Fehr purchased 6,570 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $38.04 per share, for a total transaction of $249,922.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 6,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $249,922.80. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Dianne M. Parrotte purchased 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $38.62 per share, for a total transaction of $77,240.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 11,340 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $437,950.80. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by 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.