State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Sells 37,900 Shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lowered its stake in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 38.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 60,632 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 37,900 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Cognex were worth $2,835,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Securities Inc. bought a new stake in Cognex during the fourth quarter valued at about $56,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 237.0% in the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 53,049 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $2,214,000 after buying an additional 37,306 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Cognex by 23.0% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 903,300 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $37,708,000 after buying an additional 168,692 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. raised its stake in shares of Cognex by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 13,730 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $573,000 after acquiring an additional 739 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its position in Cognex by 19.3% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 2,199 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $92,000 after acquiring an additional 355 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Price Performance

NASDAQ:CGNX opened at $38.48 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $42.30 and a 200-day moving average price of $43.24. Cognex Co. has a 1-year low of $34.28 and a 1-year high of $53.13. The firm has a market cap of $6.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 66.34 and a beta of 1.41.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $239.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $240.33 million. Cognex had a return on equity of 4.97% and a net margin of 9.29%. Cognex’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.32 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cognex Co. will post 0.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were issued a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.78%. Cognex’s payout ratio is currently 51.72%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cognex

In other news, CFO Dennis Fehr purchased 6,570 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $38.04 per share, for a total transaction of $249,922.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 6,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $249,922.80. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Cognex news, CFO Dennis Fehr acquired 6,570 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was bought at an average price of $38.04 per share, for a total transaction of $249,922.80. Following the acquisition, the chief financial officer now owns 6,570 shares in the company, valued at $249,922.80. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Dianne M. Parrotte acquired 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $38.62 per share, for a total transaction of $77,240.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 11,340 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $437,950.80. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on CGNX. Stephens reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $45.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a report on Monday, August 5th. DA Davidson lowered their price target on Cognex from $41.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 5th. StockNews.com upgraded Cognex from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on shares of Cognex from $48.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Cognex from $46.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cognex presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $49.62.

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.