Twin Tree Management LP Buys Shares of 6,287 Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Twin Tree Management LP bought a new stake in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 6,287 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $225,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CGNX. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Cognex by 123.1% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 714 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 394 shares during the period. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Cognex in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Cognex by 50.0% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 885 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 295 shares during the period. Truvestments Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cognex in the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cognex by 129.9% in the 4th quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 1,007 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 569 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CGNX opened at $31.21 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $5.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 51.16 and a beta of 1.43. Cognex Co. has a 1 year low of $30.04 and a 1 year high of $53.13. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $35.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $37.88.

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

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th were given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.03%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.46%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CGNX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. UBS Group cut their price objective on Cognex from $58.00 to $56.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. HSBC cut Cognex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $33.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Needham & Company LLC lowered their target price on Cognex from $47.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on Cognex from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on Cognex from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $44.83.

Insider Activity at Cognex

In related news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.73, for a total value of $222,662.19. Following the completion of the sale, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 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.