HighPoint Advisor Group LLC Sells 434 Shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

HighPoint Advisor Group LLC lowered its stake in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 7.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 5,808 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 434 shares during the period. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in Cognex were worth $230,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Cognex in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Cognex by 50.0% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 885 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 295 shares during the period. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings 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 buying an additional 569 shares in the last quarter. Clean Yield Group increased its position in Cognex by 1,686.7% during the 4th quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 1,072 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 1,012 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 50.2% during the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 1,047 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 350 shares in the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on CGNX. HSBC downgraded shares of Cognex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $33.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Truist Financial restated a “hold” rating and set a $37.00 target price (down previously from $43.00) on shares of Cognex in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Cognex to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded Cognex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cognex presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $44.83.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.73, for a total transaction of $222,662.19. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 4,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $149,445.18. This trade represents a 59.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Stock Performance

Cognex stock opened at $26.99 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $33.96 and a 200-day moving average of $37.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.25 and a beta of 1.56. Cognex Co. has a 52 week low of $26.70 and a 52 week high of $53.13.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last posted its 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%. On average, research analysts forecast that Cognex Co. will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.19%. Cognex’s payout ratio is presently 52.46%.

Cognex Company 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.