GSA Capital Partners LLP Purchases 44,532 Shares of Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Key Points

• GSA Capital Partners LLP increased its stock holdings in Cognex Corporation by 103.2% in Q1, now owning 87,674 shares valued at approximately $2.6 million.
• Multiple hedge funds have significantly raised their positions in Cognex, with Farther Finance Advisors LLC increasing its stake by 439.4% during the same period.
• Cognex has received mixed ratings from analysts, with a consensus rating of "Hold" and a target price of $40.25, following upgrades from firms like Citigroup and Cowen.

GSA Capital Partners LLP boosted its stake in Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX - Free Report) by 103.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 87,674 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after purchasing an additional 44,532 shares during the quarter. Cognex comprises about 0.2% of GSA Capital Partners LLP's investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. GSA Capital Partners LLP owned about 0.05% of Cognex worth $2,615,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its holdings in Cognex by 51.3% in the first quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 48,640 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $1,451,000 after purchasing an additional 16,489 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cognex by 155.3% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,062 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 646 shares in the last quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cognex by 7.4% in the first quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,698 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $230,000 after acquiring an additional 532 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Cognex in the first quarter worth about $369,000. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cognex by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 457,636 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $16,411,000 after acquiring an additional 14,396 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.12% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Truist Financial lowered their price target on Cognex from $37.00 to $29.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Melius upgraded Cognex from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $60.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Cowen upgraded Cognex from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Cognex from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 12th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $37.00 price objective (up from $30.00) on shares of Cognex in a research report on Monday, July 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $42.08.

Cognex Stock Performance

NASDAQ CGNX traded down $0.50 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $40.27. 2,423,370 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,096,533. The business's 50-day moving average is $31.81 and its 200-day moving average is $31.81. Cognex Corporation has a twelve month low of $22.67 and a twelve month high of $44.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.98 and a beta of 1.47.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.02. Cognex had a return on equity of 6.64% and a net margin of 13.13%. The firm had revenue of $249.09 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $246.70 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.23 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Cognex Corporation will post 0.61 EPS for the current year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 14th will be given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 14th. Cognex's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.07%.

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.