Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) Short Interest Update

Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 5,100,000 shares, a growth of 17.2% from the February 13th total of 4,350,000 shares. Currently, 3.0% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 1,410,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.6 days.

Cognex Price Performance

Shares of Cognex stock opened at $31.15 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $5.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.07 and a beta of 1.43. Cognex has a 52-week low of $30.04 and a 52-week high of $53.13. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $35.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $37.83.

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%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Cognex will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th were paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. Cognex’s payout ratio is 52.46%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on CGNX shares. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Cognex from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded Cognex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. HSBC cut Cognex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $33.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Truist Financial reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $37.00 price objective (down from $43.00) on shares of Cognex in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Cognex from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $44.83.

Insider Transactions at Cognex

In related news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.73, for a total transaction of $222,662.19. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 4,566 shares in the company, valued at approximately $149,445.18. The trade was a 59.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Cognex by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 7,836 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $281,000 after acquiring an additional 262 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Cognex by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 5,616 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $201,000 after acquiring an additional 270 shares in the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. raised its stake 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 acquiring an additional 295 shares in the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Cognex by 30.8% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 1,346 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 317 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System raised its stake in shares of Cognex by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 49,749 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,784,000 after acquiring an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.