Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) Stock Holdings Lifted by Stifel Financial Corp

Stifel Financial Corp raised its position in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 23.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 71,002 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,643 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp’s holdings in Cognex were worth $2,876,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in CGNX. Riverview Trust Co bought a new position in Cognex during the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its stake 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 acquiring an additional 394 shares in the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC bought a new stake in Cognex during the third quarter worth approximately $36,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in Cognex during the second quarter valued at approximately $55,000. Finally, Signaturefd LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cognex by 43.2% in the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,704 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $80,000 after buying an additional 514 shares during the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Cognex

In related news, Director Anthony Sun sold 26,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.03, for a total transaction of $1,040,780.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 26,608 shares in the company, valued at $1,065,118.24. This represents a 49.42 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CTO Joerg Kuechen sold 2,934 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were 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. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Cognex Trading Down 2.4 %

Shares of CGNX opened at $36.57 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $39.76 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.94. Cognex Co. has a 1 year low of $34.79 and a 1 year high of $53.13. The stock has a market cap of $6.27 billion, a PE ratio of 70.33 and a beta of 1.39.

Cognex Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were issued a $0.08 dividend. This is a positive change from Cognex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.88%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 61.54%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CGNX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Stephens upgraded shares of Cognex from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $45.00 to $55.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Needham & Company LLC lowered their target price on Cognex from $50.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Truist Financial lowered Cognex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $46.00 to $43.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $47.91.

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.