American Century Companies Inc. Has $44.16 Million Stock Holdings in Cognex Corporation $CGNX

American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 342.2% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 974,865 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after buying an additional 754,389 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Cognex were worth $44,162,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Quent Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cognex in the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. REAP Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Cognex in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Cognex by 402.2% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 919 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 736 shares during the period. Penserra Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cognex during the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Cognex during the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cognex news, VP Laura Ann Macdonald sold 14,881 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly owned 2,212 shares in the company, valued at $126,437.92. This trade represents a 87.06% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Robert Willett sold 177,052 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.39, for a total transaction of $10,338,066.28. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 196,083 shares of company stock worth $11,419,321 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on Cognex from $47.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Wall Street Zen raised Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 28th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Cognex in a report on Monday, December 29th. DA Davidson set a $55.00 price objective on Cognex and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Cognex from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cognex has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $55.21.

Cognex Stock Performance

Cognex stock opened at $49.45 on Friday. Cognex Corporation has a 52 week low of $22.67 and a 52 week high of $59.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.19 billion, a PE ratio of 73.81 and a beta of 1.46. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $44.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $42.98.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.05. Cognex had a return on equity of 9.02% and a net margin of 11.51%.The firm had revenue of $252.34 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $238.92 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.16 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Cognex Corporation will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 26th will be issued a $0.085 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 26th. This represents a $0.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is 50.75%.

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.