Lecap Asset Management Ltd. Invests $873,000 in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Lecap Asset Management Ltd. bought a new position in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 24,344 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $873,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Riverview Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of Cognex in the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in 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 worth $29,000 after buying an additional 394 shares during the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Cognex in the third quarter worth approximately $36,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in Cognex in the third quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, Clean Yield Group grew its position in Cognex by 1,686.7% during the fourth quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 1,072 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 1,012 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CTO Joerg Kuechen sold 2,934 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.75, for a total transaction of $110,758.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Anthony Sun sold 26,000 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.03, for a total transaction of $1,040,780.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 26,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,065,118.24. This trade represents a 49.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Cognex Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of CGNX opened at $38.21 on Friday. Cognex Co. has a 1-year low of $34.98 and a 1-year high of $53.13. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $38.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $39.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 73.48 and a beta of 1.40.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on CGNX shares. Needham & Company LLC cut their price objective on shares of Cognex from $50.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Cognex from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Cognex from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Cognex in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Cognex to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Cognex presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.92.

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.