Handelsbanken Fonder AB Boosts Stake in Cognex Corporation $CGNX

Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its stake in Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 454.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 430,404 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 352,833 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB owned approximately 0.26% of Cognex worth $19,497,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of CGNX. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Cognex by 13.3% during the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 318,984 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $14,450,000 after acquiring an additional 37,405 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of Cognex by 13.4% in the third 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. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised 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 period. IMC Chicago LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cognex during the 3rd quarter valued at $5,761,000. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its stake in shares of Cognex by 203.2% during the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 266,954 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $12,093,000 after buying an additional 178,911 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CGNX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. DA Davidson set a $55.00 price target on Cognex and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Zacks Research upgraded Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $63.00 price target on shares of Cognex in a report on Friday, February 13th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Cognex in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Cognex from $50.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cognex presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $55.21.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cognex

In other news, Director Angelos Papadimitriou sold 4,150 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owned 16,222 shares in the company, valued at approximately $901,618.76. The trade was a 20.37% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Laura Ann Macdonald sold 14,881 shares of the 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 owned 2,212 shares in the company, valued at $126,437.92. The trade was a 87.06% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 196,083 shares of company stock worth $11,419,321 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Stock Performance

Shares of CGNX opened at $54.40 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.01 billion, a PE ratio of 81.20 and a beta of 1.53. The company’s fifty day moving average is $43.41 and its 200 day moving average is $42.66. Cognex Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $22.67 and a fifty-two week high of $59.88.

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

Cognex Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.085 per share. This represents a $0.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 26th. Cognex’s payout ratio is presently 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.