Lazard Asset Management LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 2.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,154,625 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after acquiring an additional 53,267 shares during the quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC owned about 1.26% of Cognex worth $91,399,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV increased its holdings in shares of Cognex by 94.4% in the first quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 589 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 286 shares during the period. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S increased its holdings in shares of Cognex by 303.1% in the first quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 770 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 579 shares during the period. Rise Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cognex by 1,239.7% in the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 777 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 719 shares during the period. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cognex by 71.8% in the fourth quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,295 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 541 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cognex in the fourth quarter worth $56,000. Institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CGNX. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cognex from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Stephens upped their target price on shares of Cognex from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. HSBC upgraded shares of Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $52.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on shares of Cognex from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Vertical Research started coverage on shares of Cognex in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $58.00 price target for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cognex presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $50.14.

Cognex Price Performance

CGNX stock traded up $0.99 during trading on Friday, reaching $49.68. The company had a trading volume of 808,367 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,026,335. Cognex Co. has a 52 week low of $34.28 and a 52 week high of $55.08. The company has a market cap of $8.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 85.66 and a beta of 1.42. The business has a 50 day moving average of $47.42 and a 200 day moving average of $42.75.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.05 earnings per share for the quarter. Cognex had a net margin of 11.76% and a return on equity of 6.81%. The business had revenue of $210.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $198.14 million. Research analysts expect that Cognex Co. will post 0.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th were paid a dividend of $0.075 per share. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 15th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is 51.72%.

Cognex Company 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.