Oak Harvest Investment Services Acquires 14,672 Shares of Cognex Corporation $CGNX

Oak Harvest Investment Services boosted its holdings in Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 17.9% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 96,735 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,672 shares during the period. Oak Harvest Investment Services’ holdings in Cognex were worth $3,481,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Cognex by 13.3% in the third quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 318,984 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $14,450,000 after purchasing an additional 37,405 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in Cognex by 0.9% in the fourth 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. IMC Chicago LLC bought a new stake in Cognex in the third quarter worth $5,761,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Cognex by 43.9% in the third 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 last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its stake in Cognex by 203.2% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 266,954 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $12,093,000 after purchasing an additional 178,911 shares during the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cognex news, VP Laura Ann Macdonald sold 14,881 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.16, for a total value of $850,597.96. Following the sale, the vice president owned 2,212 shares in the company, valued at approximately $126,437.92. This represents a 87.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Angelos Papadimitriou sold 4,150 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.58, for a total transaction of $230,657.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 16,222 shares in the company, valued at approximately $901,618.76. This trade represents a 20.37% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 196,083 shares of company stock worth $11,419,321. 1.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Cognex Price Performance

CGNX stock opened at $55.50 on Friday. Cognex Corporation has a 1 year low of $22.85 and a 1 year high of $59.88. The company has a market cap of $9.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 82.84 and a beta of 1.47. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $52.07 and a 200 day moving average of $44.30.

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

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 26th were issued a $0.085 dividend. This represents a $0.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 26th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is 50.75%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CGNX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a research note on Friday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Cognex from $50.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $63.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a research note on Friday, February 13th. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $70.00 price objective (up from $50.00) on shares of Cognex in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Cognex from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cognex has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $57.00.

Cognex Company 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.