Semanteon Capital Management LP Buys Shares of 28,761 Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Semanteon Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 28,761 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,200,000. Cognex makes up 0.8% of Semanteon Capital Management LP’s holdings, making the stock its 27th largest holding.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Cognex by 17.8% in the 3rd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 5,536,355 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $234,962,000 after buying an additional 837,487 shares in the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc grew its position in shares of Cognex by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,842,978 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $118,666,000 after purchasing an additional 31,483 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Cognex by 10.2% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,082,608 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $88,386,000 after purchasing an additional 192,206 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in shares of Cognex by 156.5% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,065,693 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $86,862,000 after purchasing an additional 1,260,282 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Cognex by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 2,002,798 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $83,597,000 after purchasing an additional 52,672 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Stock Performance

Cognex stock traded up $0.26 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $39.79. 568,240 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,479,200. The business has a fifty day moving average of $40.35 and a 200 day moving average of $38.81. The firm has a market cap of $6.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.29 and a beta of 1.49. Cognex Co. has a 12-month low of $34.28 and a 12-month high of $59.51.

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

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were given a dividend of $0.075 per share. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 28th. Cognex’s payout ratio is presently 45.46%.

Insider Transactions at Cognex

In other news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,782 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total transaction of $274,942.28. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Cognex 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.