Stephens Investment Management Group LLC Sells 2,857 Shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Stephens Investment Management Group LLC cut its stake in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 0.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm 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 owned 0.60% of Cognex 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 made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Cognex by 5.2% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,784,239 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $72,262,000 after buying an additional 87,790 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in Cognex during the third quarter worth about $790,000. Premier Fund Managers Ltd grew its holdings in Cognex by 255.1% in the third quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 24,854 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,001,000 after purchasing an additional 17,854 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Cognex by 5.9% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,386,973 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $56,172,000 after purchasing an additional 77,146 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ceredex Value Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 116.0% during the third quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 789,550 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $31,977,000 after purchasing an additional 423,950 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Stock Down 1.2 %

Cognex stock opened at $38.21 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $37.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $39.51. Cognex Co. has a 52-week low of $34.98 and a 52-week high of $53.13. The company has a market cap of $6.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 73.48 and a beta of 1.40.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CGNX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Cognex to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Cognex from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Cognex from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC cut their price target on shares of Cognex from $50.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. One investment 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.92.

Insider Activity at Cognex

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

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.