BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. Has $5.30 Million Position in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX - Free Report) by 16.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 130,895 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after buying an additional 18,404 shares during the quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. owned 0.08% of Cognex worth $5,301,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 554.9% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 9,515 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $403,000 after purchasing an additional 8,062 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 986.2% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,619,007 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $68,679,000 after purchasing an additional 1,469,961 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 88.7% in the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 9,463 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $402,000 after purchasing an additional 4,448 shares in the last quarter. Comerica Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 6.3% in the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 104,389 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $4,428,000 after purchasing an additional 6,218 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Cognex in the first quarter valued at about $58,502,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.12% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Dennis Fehr bought 6,570 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were bought at an average price of $38.04 per share, with a total value 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. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Anthony Sun sold 26,000 shares of the company'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 value of $1,040,780.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 26,608 shares in the company, valued at $1,065,118.24. The trade was a 49.42 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Cognex Price Performance

NASDAQ CGNX traded up $0.86 during trading on Monday, reaching $41.53. 1,150,062 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,271,070. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $39.97 and a 200-day moving average price of $42.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 78.21 and a beta of 1.40. Cognex Co. has a fifty-two week low of $34.79 and a fifty-two week high of $53.13.

Cognex Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 14th. This is an increase from Cognex's previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. Cognex's payout ratio is 61.54%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on CGNX. Truist Financial lowered Cognex from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and cut their price target for the company from $46.00 to $43.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Cognex from $46.00 to $42.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 5th. DA Davidson dropped their target price on Cognex from $41.00 to $39.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 5th. StockNews.com upgraded Cognex from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC dropped 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $47.91.

Cognex 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.