Exchange Traded Concepts LLC Purchases 145,349 Shares of Cognex Corporation $CGNX

Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its position in Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 36.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 547,911 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after buying an additional 145,349 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC’s holdings in Cognex were worth $19,714,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its holdings in Cognex by 12.9% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 2,132 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $68,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Cognex by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 14,611 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $662,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its position in shares of Cognex by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 49,651 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $2,249,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio grew its stake in Cognex by 0.5% during the third quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 54,349 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $2,462,000 after purchasing an additional 292 shares during the period. Finally, Centaurus Financial Inc. grew its stake in Cognex by 8.1% during the second quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 4,021 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $128,000 after purchasing an additional 303 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CGNX opened at $47.59 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $48.49 and a 200-day moving average price of $43.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 71.03 and a beta of 1.46. Cognex Corporation has a 1 year low of $22.67 and a 1 year high of $59.88.

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. Cognex had a net margin of 11.51% and a return on equity of 9.02%. The company had revenue of $252.34 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $238.92 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.16 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Cognex Corporation will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 26th were issued a $0.085 dividend. This represents a $0.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 26th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 50.75%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on CGNX shares. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on Cognex from $47.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Cognex from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $55.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 28th. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Cognex in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Cognex from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $57.00.

Insider Activity at Cognex

In other news, Director Angelos Papadimitriou sold 4,150 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.58, for a total value of $230,657.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 16,222 shares in the company, valued at $901,618.76. This represents a 20.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert Willett sold 177,052 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.39, for a total transaction of $10,338,066.28. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 196,083 shares of company stock valued at $11,419,321. 1.70% of the stock is owned by 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.