Buckhead Capital Management LLC Boosts Stock Position in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Buckhead Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 24.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,800 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after buying an additional 1,510 shares during the quarter. Buckhead Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Cognex were worth $326,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CGNX. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Cognex during the fourth quarter worth about $12,417,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in shares of Cognex during the fourth quarter worth about $2,016,000. Baillie Gifford & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Cognex by 9.0% during the fourth quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 1,206,227 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $50,348,000 after purchasing an additional 99,647 shares during the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cognex by 49.4% during the fourth quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 402,248 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $17,120,000 after purchasing an additional 132,991 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Natixis Advisors L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Cognex by 26.3% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 227,641 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $9,661,000 after purchasing an additional 47,408 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,782 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total transaction of $274,942.28. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Stock Performance

CGNX traded down $0.60 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $40.94. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,521,303 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,467,474. Cognex Co. has a 52-week low of $34.28 and a 52-week high of $59.51. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $40.51 and its 200-day moving average price is $38.81. The company has a market capitalization of $7.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.94 and a beta of 1.49.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.11 earnings per share 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $189.16 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.27 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 17.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Cognex Co. will post 0.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were issued a $0.075 dividend. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 28th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 45.46%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on CGNX. Truist Financial began coverage on Cognex in a report on Thursday, March 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $47.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group raised Cognex from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $42.00 to $54.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Citigroup raised their price target on Cognex from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $47.70.

About Cognex

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.