Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) Stake Reduced by State of Alaska Department of Revenue

State of Alaska Department of Revenue lowered its position in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 2.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 19,556 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 470 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue’s holdings in Cognex were worth $701,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Cognex by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,784,239 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $72,262,000 after acquiring an additional 87,790 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cognex in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $790,000. Premier Fund Managers Ltd increased its stake in shares of Cognex by 255.1% during the third quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 24,854 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,001,000 after acquiring an additional 17,854 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its position in Cognex by 5.9% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,386,973 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $56,172,000 after purchasing an additional 77,146 shares during the period. Finally, Ceredex Value Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 116.0% in the third quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 789,550 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $31,977,000 after buying an additional 423,950 shares during the period. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cognex

In related news, Director Anthony Sun sold 26,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.03, for a total transaction of $1,040,780.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 26,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,065,118.24. This trade represents a 49.42 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed 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 value of $110,758.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CGNX has been the subject of several recent research reports. Truist Financial reissued a “hold” rating and set a $37.00 target price (down from $43.00) on shares of Cognex in a research note on Friday. Citigroup cut their target price 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. Needham & Company LLC decreased their target price on Cognex from $47.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Cognex to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Cognex in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.92.

Cognex Price Performance

NASDAQ CGNX opened at $33.20 on Friday. Cognex Co. has a one year low of $32.41 and a one year high of $53.13. The firm has a market cap of $5.69 billion, a PE ratio of 63.85 and a beta of 1.40. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $37.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $39.07.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 10.10% and a return on equity of 5.28%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Cognex Co. will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

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 issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.96%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 27th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 52.46%.

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.