GSA Capital Partners LLP Has $319,000 Stock Position in Cognex Corporation $CGNX

GSA Capital Partners LLP lessened its holdings in Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 91.3% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 7,043 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 73,989 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP’s holdings in Cognex were worth $319,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Royal Bank of Canada boosted 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 purchasing an additional 23,326 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cognex in the first quarter valued at approximately $291,000. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cognex by 24.1% in the first 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 buying an additional 9,223 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in 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 worth $27,000 after buying an additional 736 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new stake in Cognex during the second quarter worth approximately $334,000. 88.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on CGNX shares. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Cognex in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Cognex from $50.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on shares of Cognex from $47.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Cognex from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $55.21.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cognex

In other news, Director Robert Willett sold 177,052 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.39, for a total value of $10,338,066.28. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Laura Ann Macdonald sold 14,881 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.16, for a total transaction of $850,597.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 2,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $126,437.92. This trade represents a 87.06% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 196,083 shares of company stock worth $11,419,321. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Cognex Trading Down 1.7%

CGNX stock opened at $54.40 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $43.41 and a 200-day moving average price of $42.66. Cognex Corporation has a 12 month low of $22.67 and a 12 month high of $59.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 81.20 and a beta of 1.53.

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

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 26th will be issued 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 dividend 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.