Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) Short Interest Up 6.4% in December

Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX - Get Free Report) was the target of a large growth in short interest during the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,660,000 shares, a growth of 6.4% from the November 30th total of 3,440,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,130,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.2 days. Approximately 2.1% of the company's stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on CGNX. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Cognex to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Stephens upgraded Cognex from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $45.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Needham & Company LLC cut their price target on Cognex from $50.00 to $47.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their price target on Cognex from $43.00 to $42.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Cognex has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $47.92.

Insider Transactions at Cognex

In related news, CTO Joerg Kuechen sold 2,934 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Anthony Sun sold 26,000 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.03, for a total value of $1,040,780.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 26,608 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,065,118.24. This trade represents a 49.42 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.30% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cognex

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Cognex by 8.1% during the second quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 4,018,539 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $187,907,000 after purchasing an additional 301,916 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Cognex by 33.8% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,621,629 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $75,828,000 after buying an additional 409,502 shares during the last quarter. Bridges Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cognex in the 2nd quarter worth about $980,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its stake in Cognex by 16.3% in the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,494,312 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $69,874,000 after acquiring an additional 209,630 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Daventry Group LP increased its holdings in Cognex by 30.1% during the 2nd quarter. Daventry Group LP now owns 487,873 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $22,813,000 after acquiring an additional 112,873 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.12% of the company's stock.

Cognex Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of CGNX traded up $0.19 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $35.86. The company had a trading volume of 590,420 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,255,294. Cognex has a 12-month low of $34.79 and a 12-month high of $53.13. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $38.94 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.27. The company has a market capitalization of $6.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 68.96 and a beta of 1.39.

Cognex Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. This is a boost from Cognex's previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.89%. Cognex's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 61.54%.

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.

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