Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) Shares Sold by AM Squared Ltd

AM Squared Ltd decreased its holdings in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 72.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,600 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 4,300 shares during the quarter. Cognex comprises approximately 0.1% of AM Squared Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 20th biggest holding. AM Squared Ltd’s holdings in Cognex were worth $67,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Cognex in the 4th quarter worth $78,651,000. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in Cognex by 156.5% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,065,693 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $86,862,000 after buying an additional 1,260,282 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Cognex by 99.5% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,119,386 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $105,015,000 after purchasing an additional 1,056,834 shares in the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Cognex in the 4th quarter valued at about $49,564,000. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Cognex by 17.8% in the 3rd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 5,536,355 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $234,962,000 after purchasing an additional 837,487 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Cognex

In other news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,782 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total transaction of $274,942.28. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, February 19th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Cognex from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Cognex from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $42.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Truist Financial started coverage on shares of Cognex in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $47.00 target price on the stock. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $47.70.

Cognex Stock Down 0.2 %

Cognex stock traded down $0.06 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $39.56. The company had a trading volume of 288,752 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,532,322. Cognex Co. has a 52 week low of $34.28 and a 52 week high of $59.51. The company has a 50 day moving average of $39.89 and a 200-day moving average of $38.92. The firm has a market cap of $6.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.58 and a beta of 1.49.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.04. Cognex had a net margin of 13.52% and a return on equity of 6.86%. The firm had revenue of $196.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $189.16 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.27 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 17.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Cognex Co. will post 0.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were issued a dividend of $0.075 per share. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 28th. Cognex’s payout ratio is 45.46%.

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.