Geneva Capital Management LLC Decreases Stake in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Geneva Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 10.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 67,293 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 7,741 shares during the quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Cognex were worth $2,413,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of CGNX. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Cognex by 123.1% in 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 last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Cognex in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $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 valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 295 shares during the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC purchased a new position in Cognex during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, Clean Yield Group raised its position in 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 worth $38,000 after buying an additional 1,012 shares during the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.73, for a total transaction of $222,662.19. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 4,566 shares in the company, valued at $149,445.18. The trade was a 59.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CTO Joerg Kuechen sold 2,934 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was 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.

Cognex Stock Performance

Cognex stock opened at $32.62 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $36.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $38.36. Cognex Co. has a 1 year low of $31.06 and a 1 year high of $53.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.48 and a beta of 1.40.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. Sell-side analysts predict that Cognex Co. will post 0.61 EPS for the current year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.98%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.46%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CGNX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price target on shares of Cognex from $47.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target 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. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Cognex to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. 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 report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Cognex in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $44.83.

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.