Stifel Financial Corp Grows Stake in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Stifel Financial Corp raised its stake in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 39.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 99,197 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after buying an additional 28,195 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp’s holdings in Cognex were worth $3,557,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cognex during the fourth quarter valued at $79,797,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Cognex during the fourth quarter valued at $46,299,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Cognex by 27.3% during the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 5,840,117 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $209,427,000 after buying an additional 1,253,996 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in shares of Cognex by 903.9% during the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 731,232 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $26,222,000 after buying an additional 658,394 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Cognex by 38.0% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,092,681 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $75,044,000 after buying an additional 576,788 shares during the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Cognex

In other news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.73, for a total value of $222,662.19. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 4,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $149,445.18. This represents a 59.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 1.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Cognex from $37.00 to $26.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Cognex in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. TD Cowen raised Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $35.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday. Hsbc Global Res downgraded Cognex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on Cognex from $58.00 to $56.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $41.62.

Cognex Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CGNX opened at $27.82 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $28.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $35.06. Cognex Co. has a fifty-two week low of $22.67 and a fifty-two week high of $53.13. The firm has a market cap of $4.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.61 and a beta of 1.56.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by ($0.01). Cognex had a return on equity of 5.65% and a net margin of 11.61%. As a group, research analysts predict 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 will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Cognex’s payout ratio is 52.46%.

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.