Aigen Investment Management LP Buys Shares of 33,955 Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Aigen Investment Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 33,955 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,218,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in shares of Cognex by 122.7% in the third quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,834,755 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $114,808,000 after purchasing an additional 1,562,115 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of Cognex by 38.0% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,092,681 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $75,044,000 after purchasing an additional 576,788 shares in the last quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. increased its stake in shares of Cognex by 91.5% in the third quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. now owns 642,737 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $26,031,000 after purchasing an additional 307,018 shares in the last quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN increased its stake in shares of Cognex by 8.9% in the third quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 3,751,807 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $151,948,000 after purchasing an additional 305,913 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB increased its stake in shares of Cognex by 21.4% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,700,000 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $68,850,000 after purchasing an additional 300,000 shares in the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cognex Stock Performance

NASDAQ CGNX opened at $32.09 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.61 and a beta of 1.40. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $36.72 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $38.40. Cognex Co. has a one year low of $31.06 and a one year high of $53.13.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 5.65% and a net margin of 11.61%. Equities analysts expect that Cognex Co. will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 27th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cognex news, CTO Joerg Kuechen sold 2,934 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.75, for a total transaction of $110,758.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.73, for a total transaction of $222,662.19. Following the sale, the executive vice president now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on CGNX shares. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of 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 reduced their price objective on shares of Cognex from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. HSBC lowered shares of Cognex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $33.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Cognex from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. One 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $44.83.

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.