AXQ Capital LP Has $204,000 Position in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

AXQ Capital LP lessened its holdings in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 56.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,680 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 7,237 shares during the period. AXQ Capital LP’s holdings in Cognex were worth $204,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Cognex by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,784,239 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $72,262,000 after buying an additional 87,790 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Cognex by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,427,756 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $51,199,000 after acquiring an additional 42,292 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in Cognex during the third quarter worth $790,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 75.1% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,870 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $102,000 after acquiring an additional 1,231 shares during the period. Finally, TCW Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Cognex by 19.8% in the 3rd quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 583,150 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $23,618,000 after purchasing an additional 96,330 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on CGNX. Truist Financial reiterated 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. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Cognex to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price target on Cognex from $47.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price objective on Cognex from $58.00 to $56.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $44.83.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of the company’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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 4,566 shares in the company, valued at approximately $149,445.18. This represents a 59.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Cognex Stock Up 2.1 %

Shares of CGNX opened at $31.57 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $35.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.35 billion, a PE ratio of 51.75 and a beta of 1.43. Cognex Co. has a 12-month low of $30.04 and a 12-month high of $53.13.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.15 by ($0.01). Cognex had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 5.65%. Analysts anticipate that Cognex Co. will post 0.61 EPS for the current year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.01%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. Cognex’s payout ratio is 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.