DAVENPORT & Co LLC Purchases 76,540 Shares of Cognex Corporation $CGNX

DAVENPORT & Co LLC boosted its position in shares of Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 19.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 477,658 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 76,540 shares during the quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC’s holdings in Cognex were worth $17,186,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of CGNX. Quent Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Cognex in the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Cognex by 402.2% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 919 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 736 shares in the last quarter. REAP Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cognex during the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. purchased a new position in Cognex in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC raised its holdings in Cognex by 74.8% in the 3rd quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 764 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 327 shares during the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Cognex Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of CGNX stock opened at $51.61 on Thursday. Cognex Corporation has a 12-month low of $22.67 and a 12-month high of $59.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 77.03 and a beta of 1.46. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $48.18 and its 200 day moving average is $43.53.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.05. The business 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%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.16 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Cognex Corporation will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 26th were given a dividend of $0.085 per share. This represents a $0.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 26th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is 50.75%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on CGNX. Barclays increased their target price on Cognex from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 16th. Zacks Research upgraded Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Cognex in a report on Monday, December 29th. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Cognex from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Cognex from $50.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $57.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cognex

In other Cognex news, Director Robert Willett sold 177,052 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.39, for a total value of $10,338,066.28. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Angelos Papadimitriou sold 4,150 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.58, for a total value of $230,657.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 16,222 shares in the company, valued at $901,618.76. The trade was a 20.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 196,083 shares of company stock valued at $11,419,321. 1.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Cognex

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.