Cognex Corporation $CGNX Stock Position Trimmed by Mackenzie Financial Corp

Mackenzie Financial Corp trimmed its position in shares of Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 36.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,938,484 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 1,674,808 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp’s holdings in Cognex were worth $133,113,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Quent Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cognex in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. REAP Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cognex during the third quarter worth approximately $27,000. First Horizon Corp bought a new position in Cognex in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $38,000. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. bought a new position in Cognex in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, Penserra Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Cognex in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CGNX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Zacks Research raised Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Cognex in a report on Thursday, February 12th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Cognex in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $63.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $70.00 target price (up from $50.00) on shares of Cognex in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cognex currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $56.77.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Robert Willett sold 177,052 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.39, for a total transaction of $10,338,066.28. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Laura Ann Macdonald sold 14,881 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.16, for a total transaction of $850,597.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 2,212 shares in the company, valued at $126,437.92. This represents a 87.06% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 196,083 shares of company stock worth $11,419,321. 1.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Cognex Price Performance

CGNX opened at $50.99 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $45.85 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $43.13. The company has a market capitalization of $8.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 76.11 and a beta of 1.46. Cognex Corporation has a 1-year low of $22.67 and a 1-year high of $59.88.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.05. Cognex had a return on equity of 9.02% and a net margin of 11.51%.The company had revenue of $252.34 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $238.92 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.16 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Cognex Corporation will post 0.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 26th will be issued a dividend of $0.085 per share. This represents a $0.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 26th. Cognex’s payout ratio is presently 50.75%.

Cognex Company Profile

Cognex Corporation is a leading provider of machine vision systems, software, sensors and industrial barcode readers used to automate manufacturing, logistics and distribution processes. The company designs and develops vision-based products that help manufacturers and logistics operators inspect, identify and guide parts, assemblies and packaged goods in real time. Its solutions are applied in a broad range of industries, including automotive, electronics, semiconductor, pharmaceutical, food and beverage, and general manufacturing.

The company’s product portfolio includes stand-alone vision systems, vision sensors and deep learning-based software platforms that enable automated inspection, quality control and traceability.