Keystone Investors PTE Ltd. Buys New Shares in Cognex Corporation $CGNX

Keystone Investors PTE Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 14,222 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $644,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CGNX. Quent Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cognex during the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. REAP Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Cognex during the third quarter worth approximately $27,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in Cognex by 402.2% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 919 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 736 shares during the period. Penserra Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cognex in the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cognex during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Robert Willett sold 177,052 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.39, for a total transaction of $10,338,066.28. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Angelos Papadimitriou sold 4,150 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.58, for a total value of $230,657.00. Following the sale, the director owned 16,222 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $901,618.76. This represents a 20.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 196,083 shares of company stock worth $11,419,321. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $70.00 price target on shares of Cognex in a report on Friday, February 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Cognex from $50.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $35.00 price target (down from $45.00) on shares of Cognex in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Cognex in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their target price on Cognex from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cognex currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $55.21.

Cognex Trading Down 1.7%

Shares of CGNX opened at $54.40 on Friday. Cognex Corporation has a 12 month low of $22.67 and a 12 month high of $59.88. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $43.41 and its 200-day moving average is $42.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.01 billion, a PE ratio of 81.20 and a beta of 1.53.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.05. Cognex had a return on equity of 9.02% and a net margin of 11.51%.The business had revenue of $252.34 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $238.92 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.16 earnings per share. Cognex’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Cognex Corporation will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 26th will be issued a $0.085 dividend. This represents a $0.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 26th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 50.75%.

About Cognex

Cognex Corporation is a leading provider of machine vision systems, software, sensors and industrial barcode readers used to automate manufacturing, logistics and distribution processes. The company designs and develops vision-based products that help manufacturers and logistics operators inspect, identify and guide parts, assemblies and packaged goods in real time. Its solutions are applied in a broad range of industries, including automotive, electronics, semiconductor, pharmaceutical, food and beverage, and general manufacturing.

The company’s product portfolio includes stand-alone vision systems, vision sensors and deep learning-based software platforms that enable automated inspection, quality control and traceability.