Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) Short Interest Update

Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 5,100,000 shares, an increase of 17.2% from the February 13th total of 4,350,000 shares. Approximately 3.0% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,410,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.6 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.73, for a total transaction of $222,662.19. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 4,566 shares in the company, valued at approximately $149,445.18. The trade was a 59.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cognex

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Cognex by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,479,828 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $662,687,000 after acquiring an additional 296,251 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Cognex by 27.3% in the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 5,840,117 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $209,427,000 after purchasing an additional 1,253,996 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Cognex by 0.8% in the third 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 purchasing an additional 42,882 shares during the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its holdings in Cognex by 13.7% in the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 3,820,394 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $136,999,000 after purchasing an additional 461,724 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN increased its holdings in Cognex by 8.9% in the third quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 3,751,807 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $151,948,000 after purchasing an additional 305,913 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Stock Performance

Cognex stock opened at $31.15 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $5.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.07 and a beta of 1.43. The business’s fifty day moving average is $35.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $37.83. Cognex has a 52 week low of $30.04 and a 52 week high of $53.13.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 5.65% and a net margin of 11.61%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Cognex will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.03%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.46%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Cognex to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Cognex from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Needham & Company LLC decreased 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, February 14th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on Cognex from $58.00 to $56.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cognex presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $44.83.

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.