Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Reduces Stock Position in Cognex Corporation $CGNX

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. cut its holdings in Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 61.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 42,265 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 67,696 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Cognex were worth $1,521,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of CGNX. Quent Capital LLC purchased a new position in Cognex during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in shares of 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 worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 736 shares during the last quarter. REAP Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Cognex in the third quarter worth approximately $27,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC raised its stake in Cognex by 74.8% in the third quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 764 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 327 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Corp bought a new stake in Cognex during the third quarter valued at approximately $38,000. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Cognex

In other Cognex news, Director Angelos Papadimitriou sold 4,150 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.58, for a total transaction of $230,657.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 16,222 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $901,618.76. The trade was a 20.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Robert Willett sold 177,052 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 196,083 shares of company stock valued at $11,419,321. Company insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on CGNX. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Cognex in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $70.00 price objective (up from $50.00) on shares of Cognex in a research report on Friday, February 13th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a report on Friday, February 13th. Zacks Research upgraded Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, DA Davidson set a $55.00 target price on Cognex and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $57.00.

Cognex Price Performance

CGNX opened at $48.99 on Wednesday. Cognex Corporation has a 1 year low of $22.67 and a 1 year high of $59.88. The firm has a market cap of $8.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 73.12 and a beta of 1.46. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $48.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.62.

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. The company had revenue of $252.34 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $238.92 million. Cognex had a net margin of 11.51% and a return on equity of 9.02%. The firm’s revenue was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.16 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cognex Corporation will post 0.61 EPS for the current year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 26th were given a $0.085 dividend. This represents a $0.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 26th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 50.75%.

Cognex 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.