Kazazian Asset Management LLC Invests $737,000 in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Kazazian Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 20,564 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock, valued at approximately $737,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of CGNX. William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cognex by 27.3% in the 4th quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 5,840,117 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $209,427,000 after acquiring an additional 1,253,996 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 42,882 shares during the last quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN increased its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 305,913 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cognex by 5.1% in the 3rd 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 acquiring an additional 175,423 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Cognex by 122.7% in the 3rd 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 acquiring an additional 1,562,115 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.12% of the company's stock.

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Insider Activity at Cognex

In related news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.73, for a total value 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 approximately $149,445.18. This represents a 59.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

Cognex Stock Down 0.7 %

NASDAQ CGNX traded down $0.23 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $30.92. The stock had a trading volume of 4,113,451 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,203,043. Cognex Co. has a 52-week low of $30.04 and a 52-week high of $53.13. The company has a market cap of $5.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.69 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $35.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $37.76.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.14 earnings per share 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 analysts anticipate that Cognex Co. will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.03%. Cognex's payout ratio is currently 52.46%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on Cognex from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Needham & Company LLC decreased their target price on Cognex from $47.00 to $41.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Truist Financial reissued a "hold" rating and issued a $37.00 target price (down from $43.00) on shares of Cognex in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Hsbc Global Res cut Cognex from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised Cognex to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $44.83.

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.