Short Interest in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) Decreases By 5.7%

Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) was the target of a significant decline in short interest during the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 3,980,000 shares, a decline of 5.7% from the September 15th total of 4,220,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,190,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.3 days. Approximately 2.3% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cognex news, Director Dianne M. Parrotte purchased 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $38.62 per share, with a total value of $77,240.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 11,340 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $437,950.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, Director Dianne M. Parrotte acquired 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $38.62 per share, with a total value of $77,240.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 11,340 shares in the company, valued at approximately $437,950.80. The trade was a 0.00 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Dennis Fehr acquired 6,570 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $38.04 per share, with a total value of $249,922.80. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer now owns 6,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $249,922.80. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cognex

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CGNX. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Cognex by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,334,064 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $723,524,000 after buying an additional 203,149 shares in the last quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC purchased a new stake in Cognex in the fourth quarter worth about $239,000. Rise Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cognex by 1,239.7% in the first quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 777 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 719 shares during the period. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV boosted its stake in shares of Cognex by 94.4% in the first quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 589 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 286 shares during the period. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cognex by 4.2% in the first quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 11,514 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $488,000 after acquiring an additional 468 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of CGNX stock opened at $40.18 on Thursday. Cognex has a 12-month low of $34.28 and a 12-month high of $53.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 69.28 and a beta of 1.41. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $39.25 and its 200 day moving average is $43.02.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $239.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $240.33 million. Cognex had a return on equity of 4.97% and a net margin of 9.29%. Cognex’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.32 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Cognex will post 0.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were given a $0.075 dividend. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. Cognex’s payout ratio is 51.72%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CGNX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of Cognex from $45.00 to $39.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cognex from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Cognex from $55.00 to $46.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on shares of Cognex from $48.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Vertical Research initiated coverage on shares of Cognex in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $58.00 price objective on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $50.00.

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.