Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) Shares Sold by Geode Capital Management LLC

Geode Capital Management LLC decreased its holdings in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 16.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,002,544 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 605,484 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC owned approximately 1.75% of Cognex worth $107,705,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of CGNX. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Cognex in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Cognex by 50.0% in the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 885 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 295 shares during the last quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in Cognex by 129.9% in the fourth quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 1,007 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 569 shares during the last quarter. Clean Yield Group increased its holdings in Cognex by 1,686.7% in the fourth quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 1,072 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 1,012 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. increased its holdings in Cognex by 50.2% in the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 1,047 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 350 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 the stock in a transaction on 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 owns 4,566 shares in the company, valued at approximately $149,445.18. This represents a 59.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Cognex in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Hsbc Global Res lowered Cognex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Cognex from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. 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. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their target price on Cognex from $37.00 to $29.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $44.17.

Cognex Price Performance

CGNX opened at $25.78 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.26 and a beta of 1.56. Cognex Co. has a 1-year low of $22.67 and a 1-year high of $53.13. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $32.15 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $36.65.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by ($0.01). Cognex had a return on equity of 5.65% and a net margin of 11.61%. Equities analysts expect that Cognex Co. will post 0.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.24%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.46%.

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.