Global Retirement Partners LLC Increases Position in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 30.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,346 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after acquiring an additional 317 shares during the quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC’s holdings in Cognex were worth $48,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its position in Cognex by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 5,616 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $201,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Cognex by 9.4% during the third quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 4,055 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $164,000 after purchasing an additional 349 shares in the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Cognex by 50.2% during the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 1,047 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 350 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Cognex by 123.1% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 714 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 394 shares during the period. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Cognex by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 25,685 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $921,000 after buying an additional 422 shares in the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cognex Price Performance

Shares of CGNX stock opened at $32.80 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $37.00 and a two-hundred day moving average of $38.55. The firm has a market cap of $5.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.77 and a beta of 1.40. Cognex Co. has a 1-year low of $32.14 and a 1-year high of $53.13.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 5.65% and a net margin of 11.61%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Cognex Co. will post 0.61 EPS for the current year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.98%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.46%.

Insider Activity at Cognex

In other news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.73, for a total value of $222,662.19. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 4,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $149,445.18. The trade was a 59.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Joerg Kuechen sold 2,934 shares of the business’s 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. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on CGNX shares. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price target on Cognex from $47.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Hsbc Global Res cut shares of Cognex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Cognex from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Cognex to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Cognex from $58.00 to $56.00 and set a “buy” 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 assigned a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.