Twin Tree Management LP Acquires Shares of 6,287 Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Twin Tree Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 6,287 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $225,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Cognex by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,784,239 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $72,262,000 after acquiring an additional 87,790 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Cognex by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,427,756 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $51,199,000 after buying an additional 42,292 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cognex during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $790,000. Premier Fund Managers Ltd raised its stake in shares of Cognex by 255.1% during the 3rd quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 24,854 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,001,000 after buying an additional 17,854 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Cognex by 75.1% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,870 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $102,000 after buying an additional 1,231 shares in the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Cognex

In other news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 4,566 shares in the company, valued at $149,445.18. This trade represents a 59.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CGNX opened at $31.21 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $35.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.88. The stock has a market cap of $5.30 billion, a PE ratio of 51.16 and a beta of 1.43. Cognex Co. has a one year low of $30.04 and a one year high of $53.13.

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

Cognex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.46%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on CGNX. 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 note 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 note on Friday, February 21st. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Cognex from $58.00 to $56.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Truist Financial reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $37.00 price objective (down from $43.00) on shares of Cognex in a research note on Friday, February 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $44.83.

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.