14,222 Shares in Cognex Corporation $CGNX Bought by Keystone Investors PTE Ltd.

Keystone Investors PTE Ltd. bought a new position in Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 14,222 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $644,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in CGNX. Royal Bank of Canada raised its holdings in Cognex by 13.2% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 200,351 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $5,976,000 after buying an additional 23,326 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new position in Cognex in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $291,000. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its position in Cognex by 24.1% in the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 47,444 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,415,000 after acquiring an additional 9,223 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Cognex by 402.2% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 919 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 736 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cognex during the second quarter worth $334,000. 88.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CGNX has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wall Street Zen raised Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. DA Davidson set a $55.00 target price on Cognex and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Cognex from $50.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Cognex from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $35.00 target price (down from $45.00) on shares of Cognex in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $55.21.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cognex news, Director Angelos Papadimitriou sold 4,150 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.58, for a total value of $230,657.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 16,222 shares in the company, valued at approximately $901,618.76. This represents a 20.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert Willett sold 177,052 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.39, for a total value of $10,338,066.28. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 196,083 shares of company stock valued at $11,419,321. 1.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Cognex Stock Down 1.7%

Shares of CGNX stock opened at $54.40 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $43.41 and a 200-day moving average of $42.66. The company has a market cap of $9.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 81.20 and a beta of 1.53. Cognex Corporation has a 52 week low of $22.67 and a 52 week high of $59.88.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.05. Cognex had a net margin of 11.51% and a return on equity of 9.02%. The business had revenue of $252.34 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $238.92 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.16 earnings per share. Cognex’s revenue was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Cognex Corporation will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 26th will be given a $0.085 dividend. This represents a $0.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 26th. Cognex’s payout ratio is presently 50.75%.

Cognex Company Profile

Cognex Corporation is a leading provider of machine vision systems, software, sensors and industrial barcode readers used to automate manufacturing, logistics and distribution processes. The company designs and develops vision-based products that help manufacturers and logistics operators inspect, identify and guide parts, assemblies and packaged goods in real time. Its solutions are applied in a broad range of industries, including automotive, electronics, semiconductor, pharmaceutical, food and beverage, and general manufacturing.

The company’s product portfolio includes stand-alone vision systems, vision sensors and deep learning-based software platforms that enable automated inspection, quality control and traceability.