Securian Asset Management Inc. Sells 370 Shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Securian Asset Management Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 2.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 12,966 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 370 shares during the quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Cognex were worth $465,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Cognex by 123.1% during the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 714 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 394 shares during the period. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Cognex during the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Cognex by 50.0% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 885 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 295 shares in the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cognex in the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Clean Yield Group boosted its position in shares of Cognex by 1,686.7% during the 4th quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 1,072 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 1,012 shares in the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on CGNX. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price target on Cognex from $47.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded Cognex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Cognex to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Citigroup cut their price target on Cognex from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Cognex presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $44.83.

Cognex Trading Up 2.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CGNX opened at $32.14 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $5.46 billion, a PE ratio of 52.69 and a beta of 1.43. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $36.09 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $37.98. Cognex Co. has a 1-year low of $30.04 and a 1-year high of $53.13.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) 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%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Cognex Co. will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. Cognex’s payout ratio is 52.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cognex 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 owns 4,566 shares in the company, valued at $149,445.18. This represents a 59.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.