Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) Declares Dividend Increase – $0.09 Per Share

Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, November 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.09 per share by the scientific and technical instruments company on Thursday, December 3rd. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 19th. This is a 5.9% increase from Cognex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.0850.

Cognex has decreased its dividend payment by an average of 0.3% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 10 years. Cognex has a dividend payout ratio of 31.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Cognex to earn $1.93 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.34 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 17.6%.

Cognex Price Performance

Shares of Cognex stock opened at $53.06 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $8.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.52 and a beta of 1.49. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $59.65 and its 200-day moving average is $57.96. Cognex has a one year low of $34.60 and a one year high of $72.88.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 4th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $313.39 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $313.62 million. Cognex had a return on equity of 13.50% and a net margin of 16.05%. The business’s revenue was up 13.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.33 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Cognex will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Cognex in the second quarter worth approximately $1,158,123,000. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its holdings in shares of Cognex by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 5,985,986 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $363,002,000 after acquiring an additional 156,108 shares during the last quarter. Jupiter Topco LLC bought a new position in Cognex during the 2nd quarter valued at $161,425,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Cognex by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,227,288 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $135,085,000 after buying an additional 11,927 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 81.0% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,660,411 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $130,320,000 after buying an additional 1,190,434 shares during the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Cognex

Cognex Corporation develops machine vision and industrial identification technologies that help manufacturers and businesses automate inspection, measurement, guidance, and tracking processes. Its systems use cameras, sensors, software, and artificial intelligence to analyze images and identify products, defects, components, and other objects.

The company’s product portfolio includes vision systems, industrial cameras, vision sensors, barcode readers, optical character recognition tools, three-dimensional vision systems, and machine vision software.