NEOS Investment Management LLC Has $11.52 Million Stock Position in Cognex Corporation $CGNX

NEOS Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 4.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 254,288 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,880 shares during the quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC owned about 0.15% of Cognex worth $11,519,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its stake in Cognex by 12.9% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 2,132 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $68,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its position in Cognex by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 14,611 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $662,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its position in Cognex by 10.6% in the 2nd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 2,788 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $88,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System increased its stake in Cognex by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 49,651 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $2,249,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Centaurus Financial Inc. raised its holdings in Cognex by 8.1% during the second quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 4,021 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $128,000 after buying an additional 303 shares during the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CGNX has been the subject of several recent research reports. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $61.00 target price (up from $54.00) on shares of Cognex in a research report on Friday. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Cognex in a report on Tuesday. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $70.00 target price (up previously from $50.00) on shares of Cognex in a report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $35.00 target price (down previously from $45.00) on shares of Cognex in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of Cognex in a research report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cognex has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $53.73.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cognex

In other Cognex 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 value of $10,338,066.28. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Laura Ann Macdonald sold 14,881 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.16, for a total value of $850,597.96. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 2,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $126,437.92. The trade was a 87.06% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Cognex Price Performance

Shares of Cognex stock opened at $57.09 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $9.46 billion, a PE ratio of 85.21 and a beta of 1.53. Cognex Corporation has a 1 year low of $22.67 and a 1 year high of $59.88. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $40.22 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.83.

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

Cognex Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 26th will be paid a $0.085 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 26th. This represents a $0.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.75%.

Cognex Company Profile

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.