Virtu Financial LLC Invests $790,000 in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX - Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 19,514 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock, valued at approximately $790,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Cognex by 19.8% during the 2nd quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,819 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $85,000 after purchasing an additional 301 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. raised its stake in 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 worth $164,000 after buying an additional 349 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its stake in Cognex by 11.3% during the second quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,829 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $179,000 after buying an additional 390 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Cognex by 123.1% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 714 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 394 shares during the period. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew 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 acquiring an additional 457 shares during the period. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Cognex

In related news, Director Anthony Sun sold 26,000 shares of the company'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 sale, the director now owns 26,608 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,065,118.24. This represents a 49.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

Cognex Stock Performance

Shares of Cognex stock traded down $0.63 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $37.08. The company's stock had a trading volume of 858,497 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,256,113. The company has a market capitalization of $6.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 71.31 and a beta of 1.39. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $39.80 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $42.06. Cognex Co. has a one year low of $34.79 and a one year high of $53.13.

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 paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. 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 0.86%. This is an increase from Cognex's previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. Cognex's payout ratio is 61.54%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on CGNX shares. Truist Financial downgraded Cognex from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $46.00 to $43.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Stephens raised Cognex from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $45.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reduced their price objective on shares of Cognex from $50.00 to $47.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cognex has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average 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.