Forge First Asset Management Inc. Invests $1.57 Million in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Forge First Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 43,700 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,567,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Cognex by 123.1% in the 3rd 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. bought a new stake in shares of Cognex in the 4th quarter valued at about $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 purchasing an additional 295 shares during the period. Truvestments Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cognex in the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Clean Yield Group raised its holdings in shares of Cognex by 1,686.7% in the 4th quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 1,072 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 1,012 shares during the period. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of the 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 owns 4,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $149,445.18. This represents a 59.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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 value of $110,758.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Cognex in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Needham & Company LLC lowered their price target on shares of Cognex from $47.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Cognex from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on shares of Cognex from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res cut shares of Cognex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $44.83.

Cognex Stock Down 4.4 %

Shares of CGNX stock opened at $32.17 on Wednesday. Cognex Co. has a twelve month low of $31.06 and a twelve month high of $53.13. The company has a market cap of $5.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.74 and a beta of 1.43. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $36.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $38.21.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last posted 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 net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 5.65%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Cognex Co. will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.99%. Cognex’s payout ratio is 52.46%.

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.