Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Boosts Holdings in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its holdings in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 42.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 160,043 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 47,811 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. owned approximately 0.09% of Cognex worth $5,739,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CGNX. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Cognex by 123.1% during the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 714 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 394 shares during the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Cognex during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Cognex by 50.0% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 885 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 295 shares during the period. Truvestments Capital LLC bought a new stake in Cognex in the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in shares of Cognex during the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on CGNX. Needham & Company LLC decreased their price objective on shares of Cognex from $47.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 14th. UBS Group lowered their price target on Cognex from $58.00 to $56.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Cognex to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. HSBC downgraded Cognex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $33.00 target price for the company. in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Cognex from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $44.83.

Insider Activity at Cognex

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 value of $222,662.19. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 4,566 shares in the company, valued at approximately $149,445.18. This represents a 59.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Cognex Stock Performance

Shares of CGNX opened at $31.51 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $36.18 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $38.04. Cognex Co. has a fifty-two week low of $30.04 and a fifty-two week high of $53.13. The stock has a market cap of $5.35 billion, a PE ratio of 51.66 and a beta of 1.43.

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

Cognex Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th were paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.02%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. Cognex’s payout ratio is 52.46%.

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.