Ieq Capital LLC Increases Position in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Ieq Capital LLC grew its stake in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 653.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 59,785 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 51,852 shares during the quarter. Ieq Capital LLC’s holdings in Cognex were worth $2,144,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CGNX. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Cognex by 123.1% in the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 714 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 394 shares during the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cognex during the 3rd quarter worth $36,000. Clean Yield Group lifted its position 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. Principal Securities Inc. boosted its position in shares of Cognex by 50.2% during the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 1,047 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 350 shares during the period. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in shares of Cognex during the third quarter worth $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CGNX has been the subject of several research reports. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Cognex from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Cognex to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $37.00 target price (down from $43.00) on shares of Cognex in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Cognex from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Cognex from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cognex has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $44.83.

Cognex Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of CGNX stock opened at $32.80 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $37.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.76. The company has a market cap of $5.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.77 and a beta of 1.40. Cognex Co. has a 12 month low of $32.35 and a 12 month high of $53.13.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.15 by ($0.01). Cognex had a return on equity of 5.65% and a net margin of 11.61%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Cognex Co. will post 0.61 EPS for the current year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.98%. Cognex’s payout ratio is 52.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CTO Joerg Kuechen sold 2,934 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.75, for a total value of $110,758.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.