Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 5,100,000 shares, an increase of 17.2% from the February 13th total of 4,350,000 shares. Currently, 3.0% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 1,410,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.6 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Needham & Company LLC lowered their price target on Cognex from $47.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. HSBC lowered Cognex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $33.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $37.00 target price (down from $43.00) on shares of Cognex in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Cognex in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on Cognex from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cognex presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $44.83.

Cognex Trading Down 4.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ CGNX traded down $1.54 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $30.80. 1,144,881 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,183,297. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $35.99 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.93. The company has a market cap of $5.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.41 and a beta of 1.43. Cognex has a 12-month low of $30.04 and a 12-month high of $53.13.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.15 by ($0.01). Cognex had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 5.65%. Equities analysts expect that Cognex will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.46%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.73, for a total transaction of $222,662.19. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 4,566 shares in the company, valued at $149,445.18. The trade was a 59.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cognex

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CGNX. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,479,828 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $662,687,000 after purchasing an additional 296,251 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Cognex by 27.3% in the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 5,840,117 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $209,427,000 after acquiring an additional 1,253,996 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in Cognex by 0.8% during 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 purchasing an additional 42,882 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its position in shares of Cognex by 13.7% in the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 3,820,394 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $136,999,000 after purchasing an additional 461,724 shares during the period. Finally, Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN boosted its stake in shares of Cognex by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 3,751,807 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $151,948,000 after purchasing an additional 305,913 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

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.