Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) Shares Sold by M. Kulyk & Associates LLC

M. Kulyk & Associates LLC cut its stake in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 5.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 42,815 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 2,556 shares during the period. M. Kulyk & Associates LLC’s holdings in Cognex were worth $1,535,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Cognex during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $79,797,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in Cognex by 122.7% during the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,834,755 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $114,808,000 after acquiring an additional 1,562,115 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Cognex by 38.0% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,092,681 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $75,044,000 after acquiring an additional 576,788 shares during the period. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. lifted its stake in Cognex by 91.5% during the 3rd quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. now owns 642,737 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $26,031,000 after acquiring an additional 307,018 shares during the period. Finally, Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN lifted its stake in Cognex by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 3,751,807 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $151,948,000 after acquiring an additional 305,913 shares during the period. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cognex Stock Up 4.1 %

Cognex stock opened at $33.97 on Friday. Cognex Co. has a 52-week low of $31.06 and a 52-week high of $53.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.69 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $36.59 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.31.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last released 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%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Cognex Co. will post 0.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 27th. Cognex’s payout ratio is currently 52.46%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Hsbc Global Res cut shares of Cognex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. HSBC cut shares of Cognex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $33.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Cognex from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Needham & Company LLC decreased their target price on shares of Cognex from $47.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Cognex in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. 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 given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $44.83.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cognex news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.73, for a total transaction of $222,662.19. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 4,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $149,445.18. This trade represents a 59.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CTO Joerg Kuechen sold 2,934 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.75, for a total transaction of $110,758.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 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.