Janus Henderson Group PLC Decreases Stake in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Janus Henderson Group PLC reduced its stake in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 28.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 817,160 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 323,931 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC owned about 0.48% of Cognex worth $29,304,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Cognex during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $79,797,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Cognex during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,299,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Cognex by 27.3% during 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 buying an additional 1,253,996 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP increased its stake in shares of Cognex by 903.9% during the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 731,232 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $26,222,000 after buying an additional 658,394 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Cognex by 139.7% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,096,710 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $39,328,000 after buying an additional 639,258 shares during the period. 88.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on CGNX. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on Cognex from $33.00 to $29.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. UBS Group reduced their target price on Cognex from $56.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price target on Cognex from $41.00 to $33.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup dropped their price target on Cognex from $37.00 to $26.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, DA Davidson dropped their price target on Cognex from $35.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Cognex presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $39.17.

Cognex Trading Up 1.5%

Cognex stock opened at $32.07 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $28.06 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $34.45. Cognex Co. has a 12 month low of $22.67 and a 12 month high of $53.13. The company has a market capitalization of $5.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.57 and a beta of 1.45.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.15 by ($0.01). Cognex had a return on equity of 5.65% and a net margin of 11.61%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Cognex Co. will post 0.61 EPS for the current year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Cognex’s payout ratio is currently 47.06%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 4,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $149,445.18. This represents a 59.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

About Cognex

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.