AlphaCentric Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

AlphaCentric Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX - Free Report) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 15,000 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock, valued at approximately $608,000.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of CGNX. Riverview Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Cognex during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S boosted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 303.1% in the first quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 770 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 579 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cognex by 276.1% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,087 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 798 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in Cognex in the second quarter worth about $55,000. Finally, Signaturefd LLC increased its position in Cognex by 43.2% during the 2nd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,704 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $80,000 after purchasing an additional 514 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.12% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Dennis Fehr acquired 6,570 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $38.04 per share, for a total transaction of $249,922.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 6,570 shares in the company, valued at approximately $249,922.80. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Dennis Fehr bought 6,570 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $38.04 per share, with a total value of $249,922.80. Following the purchase, the chief financial officer now directly owns 6,570 shares in the company, valued at $249,922.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Dianne M. Parrotte purchased 2,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $38.62 per share, with a total value of $77,240.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 11,340 shares in the company, valued at $437,950.80. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on CGNX. Stephens raised shares of 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 note on Wednesday, October 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on Cognex from $45.00 to $39.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Needham & Company LLC reduced their target price on shares of Cognex from $50.00 to $47.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of Cognex from $46.00 to $42.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, DA Davidson cut their price target on shares of Cognex from $41.00 to $39.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $48.92.

Cognex Stock Performance

Shares of Cognex stock traded down $1.01 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $39.84. 1,120,607 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,281,239. Cognex Co. has a 52-week low of $34.79 and a 52-week high of $53.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 77.79 and a beta of 1.40. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $39.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.98.

Cognex Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. This is an increase from Cognex's previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.80%. Cognex's dividend payout ratio is presently 61.54%.

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.