Headlands Technologies LLC Invests $106,000 in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 2,551 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $106,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of Cognex in the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. lifted its stake in Cognex by 71.1% in the third quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 804 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 334 shares during the period. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Cognex by 71.8% during the fourth quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,295 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $54,000 after buying an additional 541 shares during the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its position in shares of Cognex by 11.9% during the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,760 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $115,000 after buying an additional 294 shares during the period. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp increased its stake in shares of Cognex by 18.8% in the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 2,859 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $119,000 after acquiring an additional 452 shares during the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,782 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total transaction of $274,942.28. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CGNX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Cognex from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Truist Financial initiated coverage on shares of Cognex in a report on Thursday, March 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $47.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com lowered Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, February 19th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Cognex from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $42.00 to $54.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $47.70.

Cognex Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CGNX opened at $41.41 on Tuesday. Cognex Co. has a fifty-two week low of $34.28 and a fifty-two week high of $59.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.74 and a beta of 1.49. The business has a 50-day moving average of $40.47 and a 200-day moving average of $38.79.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.04. Cognex had a return on equity of 6.86% and a net margin of 13.52%. The firm had revenue of $196.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $189.16 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.27 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 17.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Cognex Co. will post 0.44 EPS for the current year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were given a dividend of $0.075 per share. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 28th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 45.46%.

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.