Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) Short Interest Update

Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in 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 trading volume of 1,130,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.2 days. Currently, 2.1% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Cognex Stock Performance

NASDAQ CGNX traded up $0.85 during trading on Thursday, reaching $36.71. 56,081 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,255,294. Cognex has a 1-year low of $34.79 and a 1-year high of $53.13. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $38.94 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.27. The company has a market cap of $6.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 70.60 and a beta of 1.39.

Cognex Increases Dividend

The business 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. This is a boost from Cognex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.87%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 61.54%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Anthony Sun sold 26,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.03, for a total value of $1,040,780.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 26,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,065,118.24. This trade represents a 49.42 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CTO Joerg Kuechen sold 2,934 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.75, for a total value of $110,758.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cognex

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CGNX. Impax Asset Management Group plc increased its position in Cognex by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 5,230,271 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $211,303,000 after acquiring an additional 131,560 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Cognex by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,190,365 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $210,210,000 after acquiring an additional 42,882 shares during the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Cognex by 8.1% in the 2nd quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 4,018,539 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $187,907,000 after acquiring an additional 301,916 shares during the period. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN boosted its stake in Cognex by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 3,751,807 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $151,948,000 after acquiring an additional 305,913 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Cognex by 5.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,608,028 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $146,157,000 after purchasing an additional 175,423 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

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.