Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) Shares Bought by Clean Yield Group

Clean Yield Group grew its holdings in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 1,686.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,072 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after buying an additional 1,012 shares during the period. Clean Yield Group’s holdings in Cognex were worth $38,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of CGNX. Riverview Trust Co acquired a new stake in Cognex during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Cognex by 123.1% during 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 acquiring an additional 394 shares during the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Cognex during the 3rd quarter worth about $36,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in Cognex in the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in Cognex in the 2nd quarter valued at about $55,000. 88.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on CGNX shares. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Cognex from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Cognex in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Cognex from $43.00 to $42.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Cognex to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC cut their price objective 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, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cognex currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.83.

Insider Transactions at Cognex

In other news, CTO Joerg Kuechen sold 2,934 shares of the business’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 value of $110,758.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 value of $1,040,780.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 26,608 shares in the company, valued at $1,065,118.24. This trade represents a 49.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Price Performance

CGNX traded down $0.03 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $36.96. 687,844 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 998,067. Cognex Co. has a fifty-two week low of $34.79 and a fifty-two week high of $53.13. The company has a market cap of $6.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 71.08 and a beta of 1.40. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $38.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $40.74.

Cognex Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. This is a positive change from Cognex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.