Norges Bank Purchases Shares of 1,291,091 Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 1,291,091 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $46,299,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Cognex in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Cognex by 50.0% in the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 885 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 295 shares in the last quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of Cognex by 129.9% during the 4th quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 1,007 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 569 shares during the last quarter. Clean Yield Group raised its stake in shares of Cognex by 1,686.7% during the 4th quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 1,072 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 1,012 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 50.2% in the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 1,047 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 350 shares during the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.73, for a total transaction of $222,662.19. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 4,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $149,445.18. This represents a 59.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial restated a “hold” rating and set a $37.00 target price (down from $43.00) on shares of Cognex in a report on Friday, February 14th. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Cognex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Cognex from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. UBS Group lowered their price target on Cognex from $58.00 to $56.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on Cognex from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $44.83.

Cognex Stock Down 7.6 %

NASDAQ CGNX opened at $24.95 on Friday. Cognex Co. has a 12-month low of $24.48 and a 12-month high of $53.13. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $33.65 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $37.16. The company has a market capitalization of $4.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.90 and a beta of 1.56.

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

Cognex Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.28%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is 52.46%.

Cognex Company 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.