Brevan Howard Capital Management LP Buys 3,756 Shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Brevan Howard Capital Management LP increased its position in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 37.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 13,836 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,756 shares during the quarter. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP’s holdings in Cognex were worth $496,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Cognex in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Cognex by 50.0% in the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 885 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 295 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in shares of Cognex during the third quarter worth $40,000. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in Cognex by 129.9% in the 4th quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 1,007 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 569 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. boosted its stake in Cognex by 50.2% in the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 1,047 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 350 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Cowen upgraded Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Cognex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Cognex from $37.00 to $26.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. DA Davidson lowered their target price on Cognex from $35.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on shares of Cognex from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cognex has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $39.17.

Cognex Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of CGNX stock opened at $29.47 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $28.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $34.59. Cognex Co. has a 1 year low of $22.67 and a 1 year high of $53.13. The stock has a market cap of $4.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.31 and a beta of 1.45.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by ($0.01). Cognex had a return on equity of 5.65% and a net margin of 11.61%. 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 will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.06%.

Insider Activity

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

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.