Aquatic Capital Management LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Aquatic Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX - Free Report) by 348.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 58,768 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after purchasing an additional 45,668 shares during the quarter. Aquatic Capital Management LLC's holdings in Cognex were worth $2,107,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,479,828 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $662,687,000 after acquiring an additional 296,251 shares during the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its position in Cognex by 27.3% during the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 5,840,117 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $209,427,000 after purchasing an additional 1,253,996 shares in the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its stake in Cognex by 13.7% during the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 3,820,394 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $136,999,000 after purchasing an additional 461,724 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Cognex in the 4th quarter worth about $79,797,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 576,788 shares in the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Cognex Price Performance

CGNX stock traded up $0.52 during trading on Thursday, reaching $27.82. The company had a trading volume of 2,901,997 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,527,742. The business has a 50 day moving average of $28.71 and a 200 day moving average of $35.15. The company has a market cap of $4.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.61 and a beta of 1.56. Cognex Co. has a 52 week low of $22.67 and a 52 week high of $53.13.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.14 earnings per share 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%. Research analysts expect that Cognex Co. will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.15%. Cognex's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.46%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CGNX has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC decreased their target price on shares of Cognex from $41.00 to $33.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group lowered their target price on Cognex from $58.00 to $56.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Truist Financial decreased their price target on Cognex from $37.00 to $29.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. HSBC lowered Cognex from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $33.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of Cognex from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $35.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Cognex has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $41.62.

Insider Activity at Cognex

In other Cognex news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of Cognex 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 4,566 shares in the company, valued at approximately $149,445.18. The trade was a 59.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Cognex

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.