13,997 Shares in Cognex Corporation $CGNX Bought by Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC

Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 13,997 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $504,000.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Cognex by 2.1% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,598,728 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $842,522,000 after acquiring an additional 374,999 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of Cognex by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,101,583 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $292,224,000 after purchasing an additional 76,212 shares during the last quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN increased its stake in shares of Cognex by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 4,768,716 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $151,264,000 after purchasing an additional 40,927 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Cognex by 43.9% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,024,355 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $137,003,000 after purchasing an additional 922,149 shares during the period. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cognex by 17.9% in the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 2,724,331 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $86,416,000 after purchasing an additional 413,088 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Price Performance

Shares of CGNX opened at $49.34 on Thursday. Cognex Corporation has a 1 year low of $22.67 and a 1 year high of $59.88. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $48.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $43.66. The firm has a market cap of $8.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 73.64 and a beta of 1.47.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.05. Cognex had a net margin of 11.51% and a return on equity of 9.02%. The firm had revenue of $252.34 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $238.92 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.16 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Cognex Corporation will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 26th were given a $0.085 dividend. This represents a $0.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 26th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.75%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Robert Willett sold 177,052 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.39, for a total transaction of $10,338,066.28. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Laura Ann Macdonald sold 14,881 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.16, for a total value of $850,597.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 2,212 shares in the company, valued at approximately $126,437.92. This represents a 87.06% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 196,083 shares of company stock valued at $11,419,321 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on CGNX. Wall Street Zen raised Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 28th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $63.00 target price on shares of Cognex in a report on Friday, February 13th. Barclays upped their price target on Cognex from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 16th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on shares of Cognex from $47.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Cognex in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $57.00.

Cognex Profile

Cognex Corporation is a leading provider of machine vision systems, software, sensors and industrial barcode readers used to automate manufacturing, logistics and distribution processes. The company designs and develops vision-based products that help manufacturers and logistics operators inspect, identify and guide parts, assemblies and packaged goods in real time. Its solutions are applied in a broad range of industries, including automotive, electronics, semiconductor, pharmaceutical, food and beverage, and general manufacturing.

The company’s product portfolio includes stand-alone vision systems, vision sensors and deep learning-based software platforms that enable automated inspection, quality control and traceability.