Geneva Capital Management LLC Sells 7,741 Shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Geneva Capital Management LLC lessened its holdings in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX - Free Report) by 10.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 67,293 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after selling 7,741 shares during the quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC's holdings in Cognex were worth $2,413,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Impax Asset Management Group plc boosted its stake in shares of Cognex by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 5,230,271 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $211,303,000 after buying an additional 131,560 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Cognex by 0.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,190,365 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $210,210,000 after acquiring an additional 42,882 shares in the last quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN boosted its position in Cognex by 8.9% during the third 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 last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Cognex by 5.1% during 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in Cognex by 122.7% in the third quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,834,755 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $114,808,000 after purchasing an additional 1,562,115 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.12% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on CGNX shares. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Cognex to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of Cognex from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Cognex from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Stephens reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Cognex in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on Cognex from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $44.83.

Insider Transactions at Cognex

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

Cognex Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CGNX traded down $0.33 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $33.64. 1,716,488 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,499,899. Cognex Co. has a one year low of $31.06 and a one year high of $53.13. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $36.59 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $38.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.71 billion, a PE ratio of 55.15 and a beta of 1.43.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results 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, equities research analysts forecast that Cognex Co. will post 0.61 EPS for the current year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 27th. Cognex's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.46%.

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.