Insider Selling: Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) EVP Sells 6,803 Shares of Stock

Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.73, for a total value of $222,662.19. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 4,566 shares in the company, valued at approximately $149,445.18. This represents a 59.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Cognex Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of CGNX stock opened at $33.19 on Thursday. Cognex Co. has a twelve month low of $32.14 and a twelve month high of $53.13. The company has a market cap of $5.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.41 and a beta of 1.40. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $37.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $38.67.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Cognex Co. will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders 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 yield of 0.96%. Cognex’s payout ratio is presently 52.46%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CGNX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Cognex in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on Cognex from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. HSBC downgraded Cognex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $33.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Truist Financial reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $37.00 target price (down from $43.00) on shares of Cognex in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on Cognex from $58.00 to $56.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Cognex currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $44.83.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cognex

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its holdings in Cognex by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,038,345 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $73,095,000 after purchasing an additional 177,324 shares in the last quarter. Forum Financial Management LP acquired a new position in Cognex in the 4th quarter worth about $210,000. Pinney & Scofield Inc. acquired a new position in Cognex in the 4th quarter worth about $124,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of Cognex in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,914,000. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in shares of Cognex by 24.1% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 466,889 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $16,743,000 after buying an additional 90,640 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

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.