Stephens Investment Management Group LLC Cuts Position in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Stephens Investment Management Group LLC trimmed its position in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 0.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,027,706 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 2,857 shares during the period. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC’s holdings in Cognex were worth $36,854,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Impax Asset Management Group plc lifted its position in Cognex by 2.6% during the third quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 5,230,271 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $211,303,000 after purchasing an additional 131,560 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,190,365 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $210,210,000 after acquiring an additional 42,882 shares during the last quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN grew its position in Cognex by 8.9% in the third quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 3,751,807 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $151,948,000 after acquiring an additional 305,913 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Cognex by 5.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,608,028 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $146,157,000 after purchasing an additional 175,423 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Cognex by 122.7% in the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,834,755 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $114,808,000 after purchasing an additional 1,562,115 shares during the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Cognex to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Needham & Company LLC lowered their target price on shares of Cognex from $50.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Cognex in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Cognex from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on Cognex from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cognex presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.92.

Cognex Price Performance

CGNX stock opened at $38.21 on Friday. Cognex Co. has a 1-year low of $34.98 and a 1-year high of $53.13. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $37.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $39.51. The company has a market capitalization of $6.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 73.48 and a beta of 1.40.

Insider Activity

In related news, CTO Joerg Kuechen sold 2,934 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.75, for a total value of $110,758.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Anthony Sun sold 26,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.03, for a total value of $1,040,780.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 26,608 shares in the company, valued at $1,065,118.24. This trade represents a 49.42 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

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.