Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) Shares Bought by MML Investors Services LLC

MML Investors Services LLC increased its holdings in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 12,491 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after buying an additional 478 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC’s holdings in Cognex were worth $506,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Riverview Trust Co acquired a new position in Cognex in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted 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 worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 394 shares during the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC acquired a new position in Cognex during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in Cognex during the 2nd quarter worth $55,000. Finally, Signaturefd LLC increased its position in 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 period. Institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cognex news, CTO Joerg Kuechen sold 2,934 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.75, for a total transaction of $110,758.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Anthony Sun sold 26,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the director now owns 26,608 shares in the company, valued at $1,065,118.24. This represents a 49.42 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CGNX has been the subject of several analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price target on shares of Cognex from $50.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on shares of Cognex in a research note on Thursday. They set an “overweight” rating and a $49.00 target price for the company. Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of Cognex from $43.00 to $42.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Stephens upgraded Cognex from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $45.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $47.92.

Cognex Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CGNX opened at $35.77 on Monday. Cognex Co. has a 1 year low of $34.79 and a 1 year high of $53.13. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $39.51 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.71. The firm has a market cap of $6.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 68.79 and a beta of 1.39.

Cognex Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 14th were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This is a positive change from Cognex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. Cognex’s payout ratio is presently 61.54%.

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.