Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) Short Interest Up 6.4% in December

Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,660,000 shares, an increase of 6.4% from the November 30th total of 3,440,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,130,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.2 days. Approximately 2.1% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Cognex Stock Up 1.0 %

NASDAQ CGNX traded up $0.35 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $36.21. 88,011 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,255,294. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 69.64 and a beta of 1.39. Cognex has a 1 year low of $34.79 and a 1 year high of $53.13. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $38.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.27.

Cognex Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.88%. This is a positive change from Cognex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is 61.54%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CGNX has been the topic of a number of research reports. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Cognex in a research note on Thursday. Needham & Company LLC lowered their target price on Cognex from $50.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Cognex to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Cognex from $43.00 to $42.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cognex presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.92.

Insider Activity

In other Cognex news, Director Anthony Sun sold 26,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.03, for a total value of $1,040,780.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 26,608 shares in the company, valued at $1,065,118.24. This trade represents a 49.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CTO Joerg Kuechen sold 2,934 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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. Corporate insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its position in Cognex by 122.7% during the third quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,834,755 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $114,808,000 after purchasing an additional 1,562,115 shares during the period. Impax Asset Management Group plc raised its holdings in Cognex by 32.8% during the 2nd quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 5,098,711 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $237,812,000 after acquiring an additional 1,259,116 shares during the period. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Cognex by 116.0% during the third quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 789,550 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $31,977,000 after acquiring an additional 423,950 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 33.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,621,629 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $75,828,000 after acquiring an additional 409,502 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of Cognex by 26.8% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,746,783 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $81,680,000 after purchasing an additional 369,442 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

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.