Cerity Partners LLC Purchases 21,876 Shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX - Free Report) by 42.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 73,007 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after acquiring an additional 21,876 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC's holdings in Cognex were worth $2,957,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Riverview Trust Co acquired a new position in Cognex in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Cognex by 123.1% during 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. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cognex by 276.1% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,087 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 798 shares during the period. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Cognex in the second quarter worth approximately $55,000. Finally, Signaturefd LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 43.2% during the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,704 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $80,000 after purchasing an additional 514 shares during the period. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cognex Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CGNX traded down $0.13 during trading on Friday, reaching $39.98. The stock had a trading volume of 484,289 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,031,202. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $40.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.69. Cognex Co. has a 52 week low of $34.79 and a 52 week high of $53.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 76.89 and a beta of 1.40.

Cognex Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.80%. Cognex's payout ratio is currently 61.54%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cognex

In other Cognex news, Director Anthony Sun sold 26,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now directly owns 26,608 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,065,118.24. This represents a 49.42 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Dennis Fehr purchased 6,570 shares of the firm'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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 6,570 shares in the company, valued at approximately $249,922.80. The trade was a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CGNX has been the topic of several research reports. Stephens upgraded shares of Cognex from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $45.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Cognex from $46.00 to $42.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Truist Financial lowered Cognex from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $46.00 to $43.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price target on Cognex from $50.00 to $47.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, DA Davidson lowered their price target on Cognex from $41.00 to $39.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock 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.