KBC Group NV Grows Stock Holdings in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

KBC Group NV grew its stake in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 177,246 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,614 shares during the period. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Cognex were worth $6,356,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Cognex by 13.2% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 16,808 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $786,000 after buying an additional 1,957 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning grew its holdings in shares of Cognex by 31.1% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 21,407 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,001,000 after purchasing an additional 5,081 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Cognex in the second quarter valued at about $173,000. Centaurus Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Cognex during the second quarter worth about $132,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in Cognex by 58.9% during the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 19,266 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $780,000 after purchasing an additional 7,145 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cognex news, CTO Joerg Kuechen sold 2,934 shares of the company’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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Anthony Sun sold 26,000 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction dated 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 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Cognex Stock Performance

Shares of CGNX opened at $39.72 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.81 billion, a PE ratio of 76.39 and a beta of 1.40. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $38.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $40.02. Cognex Co. has a 1 year low of $34.79 and a 1 year high of $53.13.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on CGNX. Truist Financial increased their price target on shares of Cognex from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Citigroup cut their target price on Cognex from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Needham & Company LLC decreased their price target on Cognex from $50.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Cognex to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Cognex in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given 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, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $47.92.

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.