Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. Makes New Investment in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 3,706 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $173,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Cognex by 986.2% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,619,007 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $68,679,000 after purchasing an additional 1,469,961 shares during the period. Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of Cognex during the 1st quarter worth about $58,502,000. Impax Asset Management Group plc raised its position in shares of Cognex by 32.8% during the second quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 5,098,711 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $237,812,000 after buying an additional 1,259,116 shares during the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cognex by 41.4% in the first quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 3,716,623 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $157,659,000 after buying an additional 1,088,095 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its position in Cognex by 132.0% during the second quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,272,640 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $59,509,000 after buying an additional 723,976 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Price Performance

CGNX stock opened at $40.27 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $40.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $43.18. Cognex Co. has a fifty-two week low of $34.28 and a fifty-two week high of $53.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 69.43 and a beta of 1.41.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.03. Cognex had a return on equity of 4.97% and a net margin of 9.29%. The company had revenue of $239.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $240.33 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.32 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Cognex Co. will post 0.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were paid a $0.075 dividend. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 15th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.72%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Dianne M. Parrotte acquired 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $38.62 per share, for a total transaction of $77,240.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,340 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $437,950.80. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, Director Dianne M. Parrotte acquired 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $38.62 per share, for a total transaction of $77,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,340 shares in the company, valued at $437,950.80. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Dennis Fehr bought 6,570 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $38.04 per share, for a total transaction of $249,922.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 6,570 shares in the company, valued at approximately $249,922.80. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on CGNX. DA Davidson reduced their price objective on Cognex from $41.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Truist Financial reduced their target price on Cognex from $55.00 to $46.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on shares of Cognex from $46.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of Cognex from $45.00 to $39.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on shares of Cognex from $48.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $49.62.

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.