Pinnacle Associates Ltd. Has $22.96 Million Stock Holdings in Cognex Corporation $CGNX

Pinnacle Associates Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 16.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 506,896 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after buying an additional 72,667 shares during the period. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. owned 0.30% of Cognex worth $22,962,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Quent Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Cognex during the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. REAP Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cognex in the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Cognex by 402.2% in 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 purchasing an additional 736 shares during the last quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Cognex during the second quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cognex during the second quarter worth approximately $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on CGNX. Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Cognex in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Cognex from $50.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Robert W. Baird set a $55.00 target price on Cognex in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $35.00 target price (down from $45.00) on shares of Cognex in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Finally, Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $61.00 price target (up from $54.00) on shares of Cognex in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $55.21.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cognex

In other news, VP Laura Ann Macdonald sold 14,881 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 2,212 shares in the company, valued at approximately $126,437.92. The trade was a 87.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert Willett sold 177,052 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.39, for a total transaction of $10,338,066.28. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 196,083 shares of company stock valued at $11,419,321 in the last ninety days. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Cognex Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CGNX opened at $49.45 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $44.98 and a 200-day moving average price of $42.97. The company has a market cap of $8.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 73.81 and a beta of 1.45. Cognex Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $22.67 and a fifty-two week high of $59.88.

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

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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. This represents a $0.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 26th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 50.75%.

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.