AIA Group Ltd Sells 3,731 Shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

AIA Group Ltd lowered its stake in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 4.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 86,391 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 3,731 shares during the quarter. AIA Group Ltd owned about 0.05% of Cognex worth $3,098,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Cognex by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,479,828 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $662,687,000 after buying an additional 296,251 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Cognex by 27.3% during the 4th quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 5,840,117 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $209,427,000 after acquiring an additional 1,253,996 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Cognex by 0.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,190,365 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $210,210,000 after purchasing an additional 42,882 shares during the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its position in shares of Cognex by 13.7% in the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 3,820,394 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $136,999,000 after purchasing an additional 461,724 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN boosted its holdings in Cognex by 8.9% during the third quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 3,751,807 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $151,948,000 after purchasing an additional 305,913 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.73, for a total value of $222,662.19. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 4,566 shares in the company, valued at approximately $149,445.18. This trade represents a 59.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Cognex Price Performance

NASDAQ:CGNX opened at $29.83 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $5.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.90 and a beta of 1.43. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $34.64 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.44. Cognex Co. has a one year low of $29.39 and a one year high of $53.13.

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

Cognex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.07%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.46%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on CGNX shares. Truist Financial reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $37.00 price target (down from $43.00) on shares of Cognex in a research note on Friday, February 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on Cognex from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Cognex in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Hsbc Global Res lowered Cognex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on Cognex from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $44.83.

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.