Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Buys New Stake in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 79,691 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,858,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Oak Thistle LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cognex in the fourth quarter worth $449,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cognex by 1,818.9% in the fourth quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 2,840 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $101,000 after buying an additional 2,692 shares during the last quarter. Clean Yield Group raised its holdings in shares of Cognex by 1,686.7% in the fourth 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Cognex by 5.2% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,784,239 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $72,262,000 after buying an additional 87,790 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cognex by 10.0% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 33,657 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,363,000 after buying an additional 3,068 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Stock Performance

CGNX stock opened at $41.02 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $7.04 billion, a PE ratio of 78.89 and a beta of 1.40. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $38.15 and its 200 day moving average is $40.40. Cognex Co. has a one year low of $34.79 and a one year high of $53.13.

Cognex Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 14th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. This is a positive change from Cognex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 61.54%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on CGNX shares. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Cognex to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Cognex in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Needham & Company LLC cut their price objective on shares of Cognex from $50.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Cognex from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Cognex from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Cognex presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $47.92.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Anthony Sun sold 26,000 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.03, for a total value of $1,040,780.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 26,608 shares in the company, valued at $1,065,118.24. This trade represents a 49.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CTO Joerg Kuechen sold 2,934 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.75, for a total transaction of $110,758.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

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.