Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) Sees Large Decrease in Short Interest

Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) saw a large drop in short interest in the month of March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 3,966,870 shares, a drop of 22.5% from the February 26th total of 5,121,286 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,081,111 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.9 days. Approximately 2.4% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Cognex Stock Down 3.5%

Shares of NASDAQ CGNX opened at $47.59 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $48.49 and its 200-day moving average price is $43.59. Cognex has a 52-week low of $22.67 and a 52-week high of $59.88. The company has a market cap of $7.95 billion, a PE ratio of 71.03 and a beta of 1.46.

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

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 26th were issued a dividend of $0.085 per share. This represents a $0.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 26th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.75%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on CGNX shares. DA Davidson set a $55.00 price objective on Cognex and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Cognex in a report on Thursday, February 12th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of Cognex in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Truist Financial lowered their price target 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, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cognex currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $57.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Laura Ann Macdonald sold 14,881 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.16, for a total transaction of $850,597.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 2,212 shares in the company, valued at approximately $126,437.92. This trade represents a 87.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Angelos Papadimitriou sold 4,150 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.58, for a total transaction of $230,657.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 16,222 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $901,618.76. The trade was a 20.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 196,083 shares of company stock valued at $11,419,321 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cognex

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Cognex by 13.3% during the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 318,984 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $14,450,000 after purchasing an additional 37,405 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,101,583 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $292,224,000 after buying an additional 76,212 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in Cognex by 43.9% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,024,355 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $137,003,000 after buying an additional 922,149 shares during the period. IMC Chicago LLC purchased a new stake in Cognex during the third quarter valued at approximately $5,761,000. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its holdings in 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. Institutional investors own 88.12% 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.