William Blair Investment Management LLC Has $154.85 Million Stake in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 19.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,764,198 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after acquiring an additional 457,242 shares during the quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC owned approximately 1.60% of Cognex worth $154,850,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Cognex during the 4th quarter worth about $78,651,000. Impax Asset Management Group plc lifted its holdings in Cognex by 14,312.6% during the 1st quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 1,568,664 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $77,727,000 after buying an additional 1,557,780 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Cognex by 99.5% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,119,386 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $105,015,000 after buying an additional 1,056,834 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co. acquired a new position in Cognex during the 4th quarter worth about $49,564,000. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Cognex by 12.1% during the 4th quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 4,891,408 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $230,434,000 after buying an additional 526,196 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CGNX has been the topic of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Cognex from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 4th. StockNews.com started coverage on Cognex in a research report on Thursday, October 5th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Citigroup assumed coverage on Cognex in a research report on Wednesday, August 30th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $52.00 price objective for the company. Credit Suisse Group decreased their target price on Cognex from $47.00 to $46.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 7th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC decreased their target price on Cognex from $55.00 to $46.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cognex currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $48.64.

Cognex Stock Performance

CGNX traded up $0.45 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $37.39. 272,684 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 858,276. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $39.23 and its 200 day moving average price is $47.71. The company has a market cap of $6.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.59 and a beta of 1.53. Cognex Co. has a one year low of $34.28 and a one year high of $59.51.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 31st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.10 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.09 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $197.24 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $190.30 million. Cognex had a return on equity of 8.90% and a net margin of 17.87%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cognex Co. will post 0.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 17th will be paid a $0.075 dividend. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 16th. This is an increase from Cognex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.07. Cognex’s payout ratio is presently 32.97%.

Cognex Profile

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.