Sei Investments Co. Trims Stock Position in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Sei Investments Co. trimmed its holdings in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 4.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 229,620 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 11,349 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. owned approximately 0.13% of Cognex worth $8,235,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Quantbot Technologies LP increased its position in shares of Cognex by 261.7% during the 4th quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 209,723 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $7,521,000 after purchasing an additional 151,739 shares during the last quarter. Sciencast Management LP boosted its stake in Cognex by 791.2% during the fourth quarter. Sciencast Management LP now owns 44,580 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,599,000 after buying an additional 39,578 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas acquired a new stake in shares of Cognex during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,153,000. Kazazian Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cognex in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $737,000. Finally, Xponance Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 23,472 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $842,000 after acquiring an additional 1,433 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.73, for a total value of $222,662.19. Following the transaction, 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Stock Down 2.4 %

CGNX stock opened at $30.01 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $5.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.20 and a beta of 1.43. Cognex Co. has a fifty-two week low of $29.58 and a fifty-two week high of $53.13. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $34.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.50.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last issued its 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, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cognex Co. will post 0.61 EPS for the current year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.46%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on CGNX. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on Cognex from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Cognex from $58.00 to $56.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Cognex to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, HSBC cut shares of Cognex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $33.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Friday, February 21st. One investment 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cognex presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $44.83.

Cognex 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.