State of Alaska Department of Revenue Has $701,000 Holdings in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

State of Alaska Department of Revenue trimmed its holdings in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 2.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 19,556 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 470 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue’s holdings in Cognex were worth $701,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Creative Planning boosted its position in shares of Cognex by 2.4% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 21,919 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $888,000 after acquiring an additional 512 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its stake in Cognex by 5.9% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 19,929 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $807,000 after buying an additional 1,110 shares in the last quarter. Riverview Trust Co bought a new position in Cognex in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of Cognex by 719.2% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,171 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $88,000 after buying an additional 1,906 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Slow Capital Inc. raised its position in Cognex by 13.2% during the third quarter. Slow Capital Inc. now owns 80,593 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $3,264,000 after purchasing an additional 9,415 shares in the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Cognex

In other Cognex news, CTO Joerg Kuechen sold 2,934 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.75, for a total transaction of $110,758.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Anthony Sun sold 26,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 26,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,065,118.24. The trade was a 49.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Cognex Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CGNX opened at $33.20 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 63.85 and a beta of 1.40. The company’s 50-day moving average is $37.80 and its 200 day moving average is $39.07. Cognex Co. has a fifty-two week low of $32.41 and a fifty-two week high of $53.13.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by ($0.01). Cognex had a net margin of 10.10% and a return on equity of 5.28%. As a group, research analysts predict that Cognex Co. will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th will be given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.96%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 27th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.46%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CGNX. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Cognex from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Truist Financial restated a “hold” rating and set a $37.00 price objective (down previously from $43.00) on shares of Cognex in a research report on Friday. Needham & Company LLC cut their price target on Cognex from $47.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Cognex in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised Cognex to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cognex currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.92.

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.