AIA Group Ltd Has $2.41 Million Holdings in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

AIA Group Ltd increased its position in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 36.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 57,839 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,583 shares during the quarter. AIA Group Ltd’s holdings in Cognex were worth $2,414,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in shares of Cognex in the fourth quarter worth about $12,417,000. Baillie Gifford & Co. raised its position in Cognex by 9.0% in the fourth quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 1,206,227 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $50,348,000 after purchasing an additional 99,647 shares during the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cognex by 49.4% during the fourth quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 402,248 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $17,120,000 after purchasing an additional 132,991 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Cognex by 26.3% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 227,641 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $9,661,000 after purchasing an additional 47,408 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Cognex in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,309,000. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cognex Stock Performance

CGNX stock opened at $38.69 on Friday. Cognex Co. has a fifty-two week low of $34.28 and a fifty-two week high of $59.51. The company has a market capitalization of $6.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.62 and a beta of 1.49. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $40.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $38.90.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.04. Cognex had a net margin of 13.52% and a return on equity of 6.86%. The business had revenue of $196.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $189.16 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.27 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 17.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Cognex Co. will post 0.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 29th were given a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 28th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,782 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total transaction of $274,942.28. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on CGNX shares. UBS Group raised shares of Cognex from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $42.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Truist Financial started coverage on Cognex in a report on Thursday, March 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $47.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup upped their price target on Cognex from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, February 19th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $47.70.

Cognex Company 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.