Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) EVP Carl Gerst Sells 6,803 Shares of Stock

Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were 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 owns 4,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $149,445.18. This represents a 59.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Cognex Price Performance

CGNX stock opened at $32.81 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $37.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.57 billion, a PE ratio of 53.79 and a beta of 1.40. Cognex Co. has a 1 year low of $32.14 and a 1 year high of $53.13.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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, equities research analysts expect that Cognex Co. will post 0.61 EPS for the current year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th will be given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.98%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.46%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on CGNX. Needham & Company LLC cut their price target on Cognex from $47.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Cognex in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Citigroup cut their price target on Cognex from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Cognex from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, UBS Group reduced 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $44.83.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Cognex by 5.2% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,784,239 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $72,262,000 after acquiring an additional 87,790 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in Cognex in the third quarter worth approximately $790,000. Premier Fund Managers Ltd grew its position in Cognex by 255.1% in the third quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 24,854 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,001,000 after acquiring an additional 17,854 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its position in Cognex by 5.9% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,386,973 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $56,172,000 after acquiring an additional 77,146 shares during the period. Finally, Ceredex Value Advisors LLC grew its position in Cognex by 116.0% in the third quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 789,550 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $31,977,000 after acquiring an additional 423,950 shares during the period. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Cognex

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.