Syon Capital LLC Buys Shares of 9,718 Cognex Corporation $CGNX

Syon Capital LLC purchased a new position in Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund purchased 9,718 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $440,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Cognex by 13.3% during the third quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 318,984 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $14,450,000 after acquiring an additional 37,405 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in Cognex by 13.4% in the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,025,371 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $361,382,000 after purchasing an additional 949,599 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in Cognex by 43.9% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,024,355 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $137,003,000 after purchasing an additional 922,149 shares during the last quarter. IMC Chicago LLC bought a new position in shares of Cognex during the 3rd quarter worth about $5,761,000. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its position in shares of Cognex by 203.2% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 266,954 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $12,093,000 after buying an additional 178,911 shares during the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Key Cognex News

Here are the key news stories impacting Cognex this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q1 earnings beat and revenue beat reinforced momentum; investors are reacting to accelerating sales and profit improvements. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts are raising earnings estimates, which typically supports higher share prices as future EPS expectations improve. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Sell-side and independent outlets are upbeat: a Goldman Sachs analyst is forecasting further upside, and Zacks upgraded CGNX to a “strong-buy,” adding institutional credibility. Read More. | Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Coverage in robotics/AI roundup pieces highlights Cognex as an overlooked beneficiary of automation tailwinds, which can attract momentum traders. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Management presentations at industry conferences increase investor access to guidance and strategy but do not by themselves change fundamentals. Read More. | Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Market commentary is mixed on valuation/timing — several articles ask whether buying after a ~70% rally is sensible, prompting caution among new buyers. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported short-interest data in the feed appears inconsistent/zeroed out and is not a reliable signal at present (no clear days-to-cover pressure).
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation and recent run-up increase downside risk: CGNX trades at a high P/E and near its 52-week high, which could prompt profit-taking if growth expectations slip or macro sentiment weakens.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on CGNX shares. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $63.00 target price on shares of Cognex in a research report on Friday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $35.00 price objective (down previously from $45.00) on shares of Cognex in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Cognex in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Truist Financial reduced their target price on Cognex from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $61.00 price target (up previously from $54.00) on shares of Cognex in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Cognex has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $55.21.

Cognex Price Performance

Shares of CGNX stock opened at $56.03 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $41.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.14. Cognex Corporation has a one year low of $22.67 and a one year high of $59.88. The firm has a market cap of $9.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 83.63 and a beta of 1.53.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.05. Cognex had a return on equity of 9.02% and a net margin of 11.51%.The company had revenue of $252.34 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $238.92 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.16 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Cognex Corporation will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.085 per share. This represents a $0.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 26th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.75%.

Insider Activity at Cognex

In related news, VP Laura Ann Macdonald sold 14,881 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.16, for a total transaction of $850,597.96. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 2,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $126,437.92. This trade represents a 87.06% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert Willett sold 177,052 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.39, for a total value of $10,338,066.28. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Company Profile

Cognex Corporation is a leading provider of machine vision systems, software, sensors and industrial barcode readers used to automate manufacturing, logistics and distribution processes. The company designs and develops vision-based products that help manufacturers and logistics operators inspect, identify and guide parts, assemblies and packaged goods in real time. Its solutions are applied in a broad range of industries, including automotive, electronics, semiconductor, pharmaceutical, food and beverage, and general manufacturing.

The company’s product portfolio includes stand-alone vision systems, vision sensors and deep learning-based software platforms that enable automated inspection, quality control and traceability.