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

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA boosted its holdings in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 13.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 3,820,394 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after buying an additional 461,724 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA’s holdings in Cognex were worth $136,999,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Cognex by 123.1% in the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 714 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 394 shares during the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Cognex in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Cognex by 50.0% during the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 885 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 295 shares during the period. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in Cognex by 129.9% during the fourth quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 1,007 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 569 shares during the period. Finally, Clean Yield Group increased its position in shares of Cognex by 1,686.7% during the fourth quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 1,072 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 1,012 shares during the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Cognex

In related news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.73, for a total value of $222,662.19. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 4,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $149,445.18. The trade was a 59.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Cognex Stock Down 2.4 %

NASDAQ CGNX opened at $30.01 on Friday. Cognex Co. has a 52 week low of $29.58 and a 52 week high of $53.13. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $34.84 and a two-hundred day moving average of $37.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.08 billion, a PE ratio of 49.20 and a beta of 1.43.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.15 by ($0.01). Cognex had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 5.65%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Cognex Co. will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on CGNX shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of Cognex from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Hsbc Global Res cut Cognex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Cognex to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Needham & Company LLC dropped their target price on Cognex from $47.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, HSBC cut shares of Cognex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $33.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Friday, February 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Cognex currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $44.83.

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.