Texas Permanent School Fund Corp Increases Stake in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Texas Permanent School Fund Corp raised its holdings in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 1.3% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 150,657 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,950 shares during the period. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp’s holdings in Cognex were worth $6,391,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV boosted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 94.4% in the first quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 589 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 286 shares during the period. Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new position in Cognex during the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Rise Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Cognex by 1,239.7% during the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 777 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 719 shares during the period. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S boosted its position in shares of Cognex by 303.1% in the first quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 770 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 579 shares during the period. Finally, Janiczek Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Cognex by 71.8% during the fourth quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,295 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $54,000 after acquiring an additional 541 shares in the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on CGNX. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Cognex from $36.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, May 6th. HSBC raised Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $52.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 7th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on shares of Cognex from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Cognex from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Cognex from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cognex presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $49.54.

Cognex Trading Up 1.2 %

CGNX stock traded up $0.61 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $51.24. The company had a trading volume of 80,469 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,325,848. The stock has a market cap of $8.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 87.29 and a beta of 1.42. Cognex Co. has a 52 week low of $34.28 and a 52 week high of $59.51. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $46.47 and its 200 day moving average price is $41.96.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.05 EPS for the quarter. The company had revenue of $210.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $198.14 million. Cognex had a net margin of 11.76% and a return on equity of 6.81%. Analysts predict that Cognex Co. will post 0.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th were paid a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.59%. Cognex’s payout ratio is presently 51.72%.

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.