33,888 Shares in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) Acquired by Proficio Capital Partners LLC

Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position 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. The institutional investor bought 33,888 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,215,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of CGNX. Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its position in Cognex by 122.7% during the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,834,755 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $114,808,000 after purchasing an additional 1,562,115 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in Cognex by 38.0% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,092,681 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $75,044,000 after acquiring an additional 576,788 shares in the last quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. grew its position in Cognex by 91.5% in the third quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. now owns 642,737 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $26,031,000 after acquiring an additional 307,018 shares in the last quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN grew its position in Cognex by 8.9% in the third quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 3,751,807 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $151,948,000 after acquiring an additional 305,913 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB grew its position in Cognex by 21.4% in the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,700,000 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $68,850,000 after acquiring an additional 300,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on CGNX shares. UBS Group lowered 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. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $37.00 price objective (down previously from $43.00) on shares of Cognex in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Cognex from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” 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 research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $44.83.

Insider Activity

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

Cognex Stock Performance

Shares of CGNX opened at $33.97 on Friday. Cognex Co. has a 1 year low of $31.06 and a 1 year high of $53.13. The company has a market cap of $5.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.69 and a beta of 1.40. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $36.59 and a 200-day moving average of $38.32.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last announced its quarterly 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 net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 5.65%. Analysts predict that Cognex Co. will post 0.61 EPS for the current year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

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 dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 27th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.46%.

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.