New York State Common Retirement Fund Sells 16,011 Shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

New York State Common Retirement Fund trimmed its stake in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,160,464 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 16,011 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned 0.67% of Cognex worth $48,438,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Cognex by 0.6% during the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 71,112 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $3,018,000 after purchasing an additional 459 shares in the last quarter. Slow Capital Inc. grew its holdings in Cognex by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Slow Capital Inc. now owns 50,334 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $2,136,000 after buying an additional 1,063 shares in the last quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in Cognex by 38.0% in the 3rd quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 24,830 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,054,000 after acquiring an additional 6,840 shares during the last quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cognex by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 492,787 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $20,914,000 after acquiring an additional 4,943 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cognex by 10.9% during the 3rd quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC now owns 1,696,952 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $72,019,000 after acquiring an additional 167,209 shares in the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Cognex Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CGNX opened at $39.53 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $38.81. Cognex Co. has a 1 year low of $34.28 and a 1 year high of $59.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.78 billion, a PE ratio of 59.89 and a beta of 1.49.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.04. Cognex had a return on equity of 6.86% and a net margin of 13.52%. The company had revenue of $196.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $189.16 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.27 EPS. Cognex’s revenue was down 17.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Cognex Co. will post 0.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 29th were paid a $0.075 dividend. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 28th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 45.46%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on CGNX shares. UBS Group upgraded shares of Cognex from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $42.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Truist Financial started coverage on shares of Cognex in a report on Thursday, March 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $47.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Cognex from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, February 19th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $47.70.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cognex news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,782 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total value of $274,942.28. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Cognex Profile

Cognex Corporation provides machine vision products that capture and analyze visual information to automate manufacturing and distribution tasks worldwide. Its machine vision products are used to automate the manufacturing and tracking of discrete items, including mobile phones, electric vehicle batteries, and e-commerce packages by locating, identifying, inspecting, and measuring them during the manufacturing or distribution process.