Kazazian Asset Management LLC Makes New Investment in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Kazazian Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 20,564 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $737,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CGNX. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Cognex in the fourth quarter valued at $79,797,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of Cognex by 122.7% in the third quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,834,755 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $114,808,000 after buying an additional 1,562,115 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,253,996 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Cognex by 38.0% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,092,681 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $75,044,000 after buying an additional 576,788 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. grew its stake in shares of Cognex by 91.5% in the third quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. now owns 642,737 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $26,031,000 after buying an additional 307,018 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on CGNX shares. Hsbc Global Res cut Cognex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Cognex in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Citigroup decreased their target price on Cognex from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Truist Financial reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $37.00 target price (down from $43.00) on shares of Cognex in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Cognex to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $44.83.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.73, for a total value of $222,662.19. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 4,566 shares in the company, valued at $149,445.18. The trade was a 59.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CGNX opened at $32.34 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.02 and a beta of 1.43. The business has a 50-day moving average of $35.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of $37.93. Cognex Co. has a 1 year low of $30.04 and a 1 year high of $53.13.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.15 by ($0.01). Cognex had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 5.65%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Cognex Co. will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. Cognex’s payout ratio is currently 52.46%.

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.