Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC Raises Position in Cognex Corporation $CGNX

Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC grew its holdings in Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 23.7% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,611,602 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after buying an additional 308,687 shares during the quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC’s holdings in Cognex were worth $73,006,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of CGNX. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Cognex by 13.3% in the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 318,984 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $14,450,000 after purchasing an additional 37,405 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in shares of Cognex by 13.4% during the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,025,371 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $361,382,000 after buying an additional 949,599 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of Cognex by 43.9% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,024,355 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $137,003,000 after buying an additional 922,149 shares in the last quarter. IMC Chicago LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cognex during the third quarter worth approximately $5,761,000. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its stake in shares of Cognex by 203.2% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 266,954 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $12,093,000 after buying an additional 178,911 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on CGNX shares. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $61.00 price target (up from $54.00) on shares of Cognex in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Cognex from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Zacks Research raised shares of Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Cognex in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Cognex in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Cognex currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $56.77.

Cognex Stock Down 1.6%

Shares of CGNX opened at $47.98 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 71.61 and a beta of 1.46. Cognex Corporation has a 52-week low of $22.67 and a 52-week high of $59.88. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $46.33 and a 200 day moving average price of $43.19.

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

Cognex Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 26th were paid a dividend of $0.085 per share. This represents a $0.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 26th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 50.75%.

Insider Activity at Cognex

In other Cognex news, VP Laura Ann Macdonald sold 14,881 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.16, for a total transaction of $850,597.96. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 2,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $126,437.92. This trade represents a 87.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Angelos Papadimitriou sold 4,150 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.58, for a total value of $230,657.00. Following the sale, the director owned 16,222 shares in the company, valued at $901,618.76. This trade represents a 20.37% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 196,083 shares of company stock valued at $11,419,321 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Cognex 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.