Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) Shares Sold by Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc.

Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. trimmed its position in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX - Free Report) by 20.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 130,540 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after selling 33,000 shares during the quarter. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. owned approximately 0.08% of Cognex worth $4,681,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in Cognex by 122.7% in the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,834,755 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $114,808,000 after purchasing an additional 1,562,115 shares during the period. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Cognex by 116.0% during the 3rd quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 789,550 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $31,977,000 after purchasing an additional 423,950 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Cognex by 33.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,621,629 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $75,828,000 after acquiring an additional 409,502 shares in the last quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. raised its stake in shares of Cognex by 91.5% in the third quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. now owns 642,737 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $26,031,000 after purchasing an additional 307,018 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN increased its position in shares of Cognex by 8.9% during the third quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 3,751,807 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $151,948,000 after acquiring an additional 305,913 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 Cognex 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 completion of the sale, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through 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. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Cognex Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CGNX traded up $0.14 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $40.52. The stock had a trading volume of 1,005,032 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,158,895. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $38.10 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $40.35. Cognex Co. has a 52 week low of $34.79 and a 52 week high of $53.13. The company has a market capitalization of $6.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 77.92 and a beta of 1.40.

Cognex Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.79%. This is a boost from Cognex's previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. Cognex's dividend payout ratio is 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.