Legacy Advisors LLC Purchases 2,344 Shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Legacy Advisors LLC grew its position in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 15.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,625 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,344 shares during the period. Legacy Advisors LLC’s holdings in Cognex were worth $824,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Cognex by 986.2% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,619,007 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $68,679,000 after purchasing an additional 1,469,961 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Cognex in the 4th quarter valued at $58,641,000. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Cognex in the 1st quarter valued at $58,502,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Cognex by 41.4% during the first quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 3,716,623 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $157,659,000 after acquiring an additional 1,088,095 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of Cognex by 29.0% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,663,900 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $113,722,000 after acquiring an additional 598,207 shares during the period. 88.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cognex Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CGNX traded up $0.38 during trading on Friday, hitting $40.38. 2,496,056 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,337,528. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $44.54 and a 200-day moving average price of $43.21. Cognex Co. has a 52 week low of $34.28 and a 52 week high of $53.13. The company has a market cap of $6.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 69.62 and a beta of 1.42.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.03. Cognex had a net margin of 9.29% and a return on equity of 4.97%. The firm had revenue of $239.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $240.33 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.32 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Cognex Co. will post 0.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were paid a $0.075 dividend. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 15th. Cognex’s payout ratio is 51.72%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CGNX has been the subject of a number of research reports. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on Cognex from $48.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of Cognex from $45.00 to $39.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com raised shares of Cognex from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $45.00 target price on shares of Cognex in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Cognex from $46.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Cognex presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $49.62.

Insider Transactions at Cognex

In related news, Director Dianne M. Parrotte acquired 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was bought at an average price of $38.62 per share, with a total value of $77,240.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 11,340 shares in the company, valued at approximately $437,950.80. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.