Artisan Partners Limited Partnership Makes New Investment in Cognex Corporation $CGNX

Artisan Partners Limited Partnership acquired a new stake in shares of Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 648,671 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,385,000. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership owned approximately 0.39% of Cognex as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake 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 valued at $842,522,000 after acquiring an additional 374,999 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 13.4% in the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,025,371 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $361,382,000 after purchasing an additional 949,599 shares in the last quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN increased its position 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 valued at $151,264,000 after purchasing an additional 40,927 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Cognex by 43.9% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,024,355 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $137,003,000 after purchasing an additional 922,149 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cognex by 17.9% during the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 2,724,331 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $86,416,000 after buying an additional 413,088 shares in the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Laura Ann Macdonald sold 14,881 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.16, for a total transaction of $850,597.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 2,212 shares in the company, valued at $126,437.92. This represents a 87.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert Willett sold 177,052 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.39, for a total value of $10,338,066.28. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 196,083 shares of company stock valued at $11,419,321. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Cognex in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $63.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a research note on Friday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Cognex from $50.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $70.00 price target (up from $50.00) on shares of Cognex in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Finally, 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Cognex presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $55.21.

Cognex Stock Down 1.7%

Shares of Cognex stock opened at $54.40 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $43.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $42.66. Cognex Corporation has a 12-month low of $22.67 and a 12-month high of $59.88. The firm has a market cap of $9.01 billion, a PE ratio of 81.20 and a beta of 1.53.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.27 earnings per share 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 analyst estimates of $238.92 million. Cognex had a net margin of 11.51% and a return on equity of 9.02%. Cognex’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.16 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side 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 will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 26th will be given a $0.085 dividend. This represents a $0.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 26th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 50.75%.

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.