Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) Shares Bought by Pictet Asset Management Holding SA

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its holdings in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 13.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,820,394 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after acquiring an additional 461,724 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA owned approximately 2.23% of Cognex worth $136,999,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in Cognex by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 7,836 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $281,000 after purchasing an additional 262 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Cognex by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 5,616 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $201,000 after buying an additional 270 shares during the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 50.0% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 885 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 295 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cognex by 30.8% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 1,346 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 317 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System grew its holdings in Cognex by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 49,749 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,784,000 after acquiring an additional 320 shares during the period. 88.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cognex Stock Performance

NASDAQ CGNX opened at $30.01 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $34.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.51. The company has a market cap of $5.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.20 and a beta of 1.43. Cognex Co. has a one year low of $29.58 and a one year high of $53.13.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by ($0.01). Cognex had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 5.65%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Cognex Co. will post 0.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.46%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on CGNX. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Cognex from $58.00 to $56.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of Cognex from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Cognex from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Cognex to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Truist Financial reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $37.00 price target (down previously from $43.00) on shares of Cognex in a report on Friday, February 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cognex currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $44.83.

Insider Activity

In other Cognex news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.73, for a total transaction of $222,662.19. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 4,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $149,445.18. The trade was a 59.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

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.