Slow Capital Inc. Sells 780 Shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Slow Capital Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 1.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 49,554 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 780 shares during the quarter. Slow Capital Inc.’s holdings in Cognex were worth $2,068,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in CGNX. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec bought a new stake in shares of Cognex during the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of Cognex during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. raised its stake in shares of Cognex by 71.1% during the 3rd quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 804 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 334 shares during the period. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new position in Cognex in the 4th quarter worth about $44,000. Finally, Janiczek Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Cognex by 71.8% in the 4th quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,295 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 541 shares during the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cognex news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,782 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total value of $274,942.28. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Stock Performance

CGNX stock traded down $0.30 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $39.32. 252,749 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,531,935. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.75 billion, a PE ratio of 59.65 and a beta of 1.49. Cognex Co. has a 1 year low of $34.28 and a 1 year high of $59.51. The company has a 50-day moving average of $39.89 and a 200-day moving average of $38.92.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.04. Cognex had a return on equity of 6.86% and a net margin of 13.52%. The company had revenue of $196.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $189.16 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.27 EPS. Cognex’s quarterly revenue was down 17.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Cognex Co. will post 0.44 EPS for the current year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were issued a $0.075 dividend. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 28th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 45.46%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CGNX has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group upgraded Cognex from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $42.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. StockNews.com lowered Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, February 19th. Citigroup upped their target price on Cognex from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Truist Financial initiated coverage on Cognex in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $47.00 target price on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Cognex presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $47.70.

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.