Snyder Capital Management L P Lowers Stock Position in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Snyder Capital Management L P trimmed its position in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 20.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 593,470 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 155,941 shares during the quarter. Snyder Capital Management L P’s holdings in Cognex were worth $21,282,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in Cognex in the 3rd quarter worth $790,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cognex during the third quarter worth about $463,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in Cognex in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Tidal Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Cognex by 10.0% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 33,657 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,363,000 after buying an additional 3,068 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Cognex by 5.2% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,784,239 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $72,262,000 after acquiring an additional 87,790 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on CGNX shares. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Cognex from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Citigroup cut their price target on Cognex from $37.00 to $26.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Truist Financial lowered their target price on Cognex from $37.00 to $29.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Hsbc Global Res cut shares of Cognex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Cognex from $58.00 to $56.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Cognex has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $42.83.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cognex

In related news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.73, for a total value of $222,662.19. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 4,566 shares in the company, valued at $149,445.18. This trade represents a 59.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Cognex Stock Performance

Shares of CGNX opened at $26.09 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.42 billion, a PE ratio of 42.77 and a beta of 1.56. Cognex Co. has a fifty-two week low of $22.67 and a fifty-two week high of $53.13. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $29.22 and a 200-day moving average price of $35.49.

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

Cognex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.23%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.46%.

Cognex 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.