Northern Trust Corp Increases Stock Holdings in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 21.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,741,196 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 307,385 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp’s holdings in Cognex were worth $62,439,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Cognex by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 7,836 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $281,000 after acquiring an additional 262 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its position in Cognex by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 5,616 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $201,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares during the period. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Cognex by 50.0% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 885 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 295 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cognex by 30.8% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 1,346 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 317 shares during the period. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System increased its position in shares of Cognex by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 49,749 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,784,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares during the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cognex Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CGNX opened at $27.83 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $4.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.62 and a beta of 1.45. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $28.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $34.77. Cognex Co. has a 1-year low of $22.67 and a 1-year high of $53.13.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last released 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%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Cognex Co. will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.15%. Cognex’s payout ratio is currently 47.06%.

Insider Activity at Cognex

In other Cognex news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.73, for a total transaction of $222,662.19. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 4,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $149,445.18. The trade was a 59.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CGNX has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of Cognex from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Cowen raised shares of Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. TD Cowen raised Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $35.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Truist Financial lowered their price target on Cognex from $37.00 to $29.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price objective on Cognex from $56.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cognex has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $39.17.

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.