Sciencast Management LP Acquires 39,578 Shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Sciencast Management LP raised its holdings in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX - Free Report) by 791.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 44,580 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after acquiring an additional 39,578 shares during the period. Sciencast Management LP's holdings in Cognex were worth $1,599,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cognex by 27.3% during the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 5,840,117 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $209,427,000 after acquiring an additional 1,253,996 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Cognex by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,190,365 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $210,210,000 after purchasing an additional 42,882 shares during the period. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN raised its stake in shares of Cognex by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 3,751,807 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $151,948,000 after purchasing an additional 305,913 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 5.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,608,028 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $146,157,000 after purchasing an additional 175,423 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in shares of Cognex by 122.7% during the third quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,834,755 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $114,808,000 after buying an additional 1,562,115 shares during the period. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Remove Ads

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Hsbc Global Res lowered Cognex from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Cognex from $58.00 to $56.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Truist Financial restated a "hold" rating and set a $37.00 target price (down previously from $43.00) on shares of Cognex in a report on Friday, February 14th. 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 research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Stephens restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $44.83.

Cognex Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of CGNX stock traded down $0.54 on Thursday, reaching $30.74. The stock had a trading volume of 1,416,956 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,209,743. The firm's 50-day moving average is $35.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $37.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.39 and a beta of 1.43. Cognex Co. has a 12 month low of $30.04 and a 12 month high of $53.13.

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 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Cognex Co. will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.04%. Cognex's dividend payout ratio is currently 52.46%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.73, for a total transaction of $222,662.19. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 4,566 shares in the company, valued at $149,445.18. The trade was a 59.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

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.