Magnetar Financial LLC Acquires New Holdings in Cognex Corporation $CGNX

Magnetar Financial LLC bought a new stake in Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 46,530 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,108,000.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of CGNX. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Cognex by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,598,728 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $842,522,000 after buying an additional 374,999 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in Cognex by 13.4% during the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,025,371 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $361,382,000 after acquiring an additional 949,599 shares during the last quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN boosted its stake in Cognex by 0.9% in the second quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 4,768,716 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $151,264,000 after acquiring an additional 40,927 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Cognex by 43.9% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,024,355 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $137,003,000 after acquiring an additional 922,149 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its holdings in Cognex by 17.9% in the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 2,724,331 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $86,416,000 after purchasing an additional 413,088 shares during the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cognex Price Performance

NASDAQ CGNX opened at $48.77 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $8.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 72.79 and a beta of 1.46. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $46.10 and its 200 day moving average price is $43.17. Cognex Corporation has a 1 year low of $22.67 and a 1 year high of $59.88.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $252.34 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $238.92 million. Cognex had a return on equity of 9.02% and a net margin of 11.51%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.16 EPS. Research analysts expect that Cognex Corporation will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 26th were issued a $0.085 dividend. This represents a $0.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 26th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is 50.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cognex

In related news, Director Angelos Papadimitriou sold 4,150 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.58, for a total transaction of $230,657.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 16,222 shares in the company, valued at $901,618.76. The trade was a 20.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Laura Ann Macdonald sold 14,881 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.16, for a total value of $850,597.96. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 2,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $126,437.92. The trade was a 87.06% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 196,083 shares of company stock worth $11,419,321. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CGNX has been the subject of several analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $63.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a report on Friday, February 13th. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on Cognex from $47.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $61.00 price target (up from $54.00) on shares of Cognex in a report on Friday, February 13th. Robert W. Baird set a $55.00 price target on Cognex in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cognex has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $56.77.

Cognex Profile

Cognex Corporation is a leading provider of machine vision systems, software, sensors and industrial barcode readers used to automate manufacturing, logistics and distribution processes. The company designs and develops vision-based products that help manufacturers and logistics operators inspect, identify and guide parts, assemblies and packaged goods in real time. Its solutions are applied in a broad range of industries, including automotive, electronics, semiconductor, pharmaceutical, food and beverage, and general manufacturing.

The company’s product portfolio includes stand-alone vision systems, vision sensors and deep learning-based software platforms that enable automated inspection, quality control and traceability.