NZS Capital LLC Reduces Position in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

NZS Capital LLC lowered its holdings in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX - Free Report) by 6.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 758,787 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after selling 48,371 shares during the quarter. NZS Capital LLC owned 0.44% of Cognex worth $27,210,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in Cognex during the third quarter worth about $790,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in shares of Cognex in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Tidal Investments LLC increased its stake in Cognex by 10.0% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 33,657 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $1,363,000 after purchasing an additional 3,068 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Cognex by 5.2% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,784,239 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $72,262,000 after purchasing an additional 87,790 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clean Yield Group grew its holdings in Cognex by 1,686.7% in the fourth quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 1,072 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 1,012 shares during the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CGNX has been the subject of several research reports. HSBC downgraded Cognex from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $33.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Friday, February 21st. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Cognex from $58.00 to $56.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Cognex from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded Cognex from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their target price on Cognex from $37.00 to $29.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. One 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 company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $41.62.

Cognex Price Performance

NASDAQ:CGNX traded down $0.01 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $27.82. The company's stock had a trading volume of 772,237 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,524,967. The stock has a market cap of $4.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.64 and a beta of 1.56. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $28.61 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $35.06. Cognex Co. has a twelve month low of $22.67 and a twelve month high of $53.13.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX - Get Free Report) 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 net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 5.65%. Sell-side analysts expect that Cognex Co. will post 0.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.15%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Cognex's payout ratio is currently 52.46%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cognex news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.73, for a total value of $222,662.19. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by 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.