Proficio Capital Partners LLC Invests $1.22 Million in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 33,888 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock, valued at approximately $1,215,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of CGNX. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Cognex by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,427,756 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $51,199,000 after purchasing an additional 42,292 shares during the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of Cognex by 45.1% during the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 10,858 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $389,000 after buying an additional 3,373 shares during the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Cognex in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in Cognex by 50.0% in 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in Cognex by 75.1% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,870 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $102,000 after acquiring an additional 1,231 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.12% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on CGNX. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Cognex from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. HSBC lowered shares of Cognex from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $33.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Needham & Company LLC decreased their target price on shares of Cognex from $47.00 to $41.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Truist Financial reiterated a "hold" rating and issued a $37.00 price target (down from $43.00) on shares of Cognex in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on Cognex from $58.00 to $56.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. One equities 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $44.83.

Cognex Price Performance

Shares of Cognex stock traded up $0.65 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $31.57. The company had a trading volume of 1,490,885 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,724,623. The firm has a market cap of $5.35 billion, a PE ratio of 51.75 and a beta of 1.43. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $35.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.76. Cognex Co. has a fifty-two week low of $30.04 and a fifty-two week high of $53.13.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.14 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Cognex Co. will post 0.61 EPS for the current year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.01%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. Cognex's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cognex

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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through 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.