Aigen Investment Management LP Takes $1.22 Million Position in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Aigen Investment Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 33,955 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock, valued at approximately $1,218,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its position 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. acquired a new position in shares of Cognex during the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Cognex by 50.0% during the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 885 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 295 shares in the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cognex during the third quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in shares of Cognex during the third quarter valued at about $40,000. 88.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CGNX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Cognex from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Needham & Company LLC cut their price objective on shares of Cognex from $47.00 to $41.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Cognex from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of Cognex from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Truist Financial reiterated a "hold" rating and issued a $37.00 price target (down previously from $43.00) on shares of Cognex in a report on Friday, February 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Cognex presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $44.83.

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Cognex Trading Up 4.1 %

Cognex stock traded up $1.35 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $33.97. The company had a trading volume of 1,141,409 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,494,730. Cognex Co. has a 12-month low of $31.06 and a 12-month high of $53.13. The company's fifty day moving average is $36.59 and its 200-day moving average is $38.31. The company has a market capitalization of $5.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.69 and a beta of 1.43.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.15 by ($0.01). Cognex had a return on equity of 5.65% and a net margin of 11.61%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Cognex Co. will post 0.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.94%. Cognex's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.46%.

Insider Activity

In other Cognex news, CTO Joerg Kuechen sold 2,934 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.75, for a total value of $110,758.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.73, for a total value of $222,662.19. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 4,566 shares of the company's stock, valued at $149,445.18. The trade was a 59.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

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.