Entropy Technologies LP Purchases New Position in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new stake in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 14,522 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $521,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Riverview Trust Co purchased a new stake in Cognex in the third quarter worth about $25,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Cognex by 123.1% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 714 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 394 shares in the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cognex in the third quarter worth $36,000. Clean Yield Group grew its stake in Cognex by 1,686.7% during the fourth quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 1,072 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 1,012 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in shares of Cognex in the 3rd quarter worth $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Cognex

In other news, CTO Joerg Kuechen sold 2,934 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.75, for a total transaction of $110,758.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Anthony Sun sold 26,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.03, for a total transaction of $1,040,780.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 26,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,065,118.24. The trade was a 49.42 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of CGNX opened at $39.25 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $37.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $39.22. Cognex Co. has a 12-month low of $34.98 and a 12-month high of $53.13. The firm has a market cap of $6.73 billion, a PE ratio of 75.48 and a beta of 1.40.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last released 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 net margin of 10.10% and a return on equity of 5.28%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Cognex Co. will post 0.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.82%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 61.54%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Truist Financial boosted their price target on shares of Cognex from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Cognex to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Needham & Company LLC cut their price objective on shares of Cognex from $50.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Cognex from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $47.92.

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.