Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC Buys 607 Shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 2.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 25,437 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after acquiring an additional 607 shares during the quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Cognex were worth $1,062,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its stake in Cognex by 11.9% in the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,760 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $115,000 after purchasing an additional 294 shares in the last quarter. Duality Advisers LP lifted its position in Cognex by 20.4% during the fourth quarter. Duality Advisers LP now owns 52,102 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $2,175,000 after acquiring an additional 8,845 shares during the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its position in Cognex by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 30,200 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,261,000 after acquiring an additional 2,800 shares during the last quarter. AIA Group Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 36.9% during the fourth quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 57,839 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $2,414,000 after acquiring an additional 15,583 shares during the period. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. grew its position in shares of Cognex by 16.8% in the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 453,691 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $18,937,000 after purchasing an additional 65,198 shares during the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Insider Activity at Cognex

In other news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,782 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total value of $274,942.28. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Cognex Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CGNX opened at $39.53 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $40.33 and a 200-day moving average of $38.81. Cognex Co. has a 12 month low of $34.28 and a 12 month high of $59.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.78 billion, a PE ratio of 59.89 and a beta of 1.49.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 period last year, the firm posted $0.27 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 17.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Cognex Co. will post 0.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The firm 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.76%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 45.46%.

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.