Short Interest in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) Declines By 27.8%

Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,110,000 shares, a drop of 27.8% from the August 15th total of 5,690,000 shares. Currently, 2.4% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,210,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.4 days.

Insider Activity at Cognex

In other Cognex news, CFO Dennis Fehr acquired 6,570 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were bought at an average price of $38.04 per share, with a total value of $249,922.80. Following the purchase, the chief financial officer now directly owns 6,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $249,922.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, Director Dianne M. Parrotte bought 2,000 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $38.62 per share, with a total value of $77,240.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 11,340 shares in the company, valued at approximately $437,950.80. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Dennis Fehr purchased 6,570 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $38.04 per share, for a total transaction of $249,922.80. Following the acquisition, the chief financial officer now directly owns 6,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $249,922.80. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cognex

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Creative Planning lifted its stake in shares of Cognex by 31.1% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 21,407 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,001,000 after buying an additional 5,081 shares during the period. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN lifted its position in Cognex by 1.4% in the second quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 3,445,894 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $161,130,000 after purchasing an additional 49,026 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its stake in Cognex by 16.3% during the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,494,312 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $69,874,000 after buying an additional 209,630 shares in the last quarter. Daventry Group LP increased its holdings in Cognex by 30.1% in 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 buying an additional 112,873 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Cognex by 13.2% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 16,808 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $786,000 after buying an additional 1,957 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. StockNews.com raised Cognex from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $45.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a research report on Monday, August 5th. DA Davidson dropped their target price on Cognex from $41.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 5th. Vertical Research began coverage on shares of Cognex in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $58.00 price target for the company. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on shares of Cognex from $48.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cognex presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $49.62.

Cognex Price Performance

NASDAQ:CGNX traded up $0.37 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $38.67. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 962,358 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,313,111. Cognex has a one year low of $34.28 and a one year high of $53.13. The business’s 50-day moving average is $42.88 and its 200-day moving average is $43.22. The company has a market cap of $6.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 66.67 and a beta of 1.41.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $239.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $240.33 million. Cognex had a return on equity of 4.97% and a net margin of 9.29%. The firm’s revenue was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.32 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Cognex will post 0.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th were paid a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.78%. Cognex’s payout ratio is 51.72%.

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.