Edgestream Partners L.P. Takes $1.51 Million Position in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Edgestream Partners L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 42,070 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,509,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CGNX. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its stake in Cognex by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 5,616 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $201,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares during the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its stake 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 purchasing an additional 295 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its stake in Cognex by 30.8% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 1,346 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 317 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System grew its stake in Cognex by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 49,749 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,784,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. grew its stake in Cognex by 9.4% in the third quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 4,055 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $164,000 after purchasing an additional 349 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cognex

In other Cognex 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 value of $222,662.19. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 4,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $149,445.18. The trade was a 59.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CTO Joerg Kuechen sold 2,934 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.75, for a total value of $110,758.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on CGNX shares. Truist Financial reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $37.00 target price (down previously from $43.00) on shares of Cognex in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup cut their target price on Cognex from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. HSBC downgraded Cognex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $33.00 price target for the company. in a report on Friday, February 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Cognex from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lowered their price target on Cognex from $47.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Cognex presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $44.83.

Cognex Stock Down 1.0 %

Cognex stock opened at $33.64 on Tuesday. Cognex Co. has a 52 week low of $31.06 and a 52 week high of $53.13. The company has a market capitalization of $5.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.15 and a beta of 1.43. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $36.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.26.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last released its earnings results 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 return on equity of 5.65% and a net margin of 11.61%. Research analysts anticipate that Cognex Co. will post 0.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 27th. Cognex’s payout ratio is presently 52.46%.

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.