Geode Capital Management LLC Purchases 175,423 Shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX - Free Report) by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,608,028 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after buying an additional 175,423 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC owned approximately 2.10% of Cognex worth $146,157,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of CGNX. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Cognex by 19.8% in the 2nd quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,819 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $85,000 after acquiring an additional 301 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Cognex by 9.4% during the third quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 4,055 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $164,000 after purchasing an additional 349 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its holdings in shares of Cognex by 11.3% in the second quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,829 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $179,000 after purchasing an additional 390 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its position in 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. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Cognex by 20.1% during the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 2,732 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $111,000 after buying an additional 457 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.12% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on CGNX shares. Stephens upgraded Cognex from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $45.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Truist Financial cut shares of Cognex from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $46.00 to $43.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC cut their price objective on shares of Cognex from $50.00 to $47.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. One 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 data from MarketBeat.com, Cognex currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $47.91.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Anthony Sun sold 26,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 26,608 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,065,118.24. This trade 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 hyperlink. Also, CTO Joerg Kuechen sold 2,934 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.75, for a total transaction of $110,758.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

Cognex Trading Down 2.4 %

NASDAQ CGNX traded down $0.90 on Tuesday, hitting $36.57. 993,329 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,255,104. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $39.76 and a 200-day moving average of $41.94. The stock has a market cap of $6.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 70.98 and a beta of 1.39. Cognex Co. has a 52 week low of $34.79 and a 52 week high of $53.13.

Cognex Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.88%. This is a positive change from Cognex's previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. Cognex's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.