FNY Investment Advisers LLC Acquires 2,692 Shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

FNY Investment Advisers LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 1,818.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,840 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after buying an additional 2,692 shares during the quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in Cognex were worth $101,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CGNX. Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in Cognex by 122.7% during the third quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,834,755 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $114,808,000 after acquiring an additional 1,562,115 shares in the last quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Cognex by 116.0% in the third quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 789,550 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $31,977,000 after buying an additional 423,950 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Cognex by 33.8% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,621,629 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $75,828,000 after acquiring an additional 409,502 shares in the last quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Cognex by 91.5% in the 3rd quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. now owns 642,737 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $26,031,000 after purchasing an additional 307,018 shares during the period. Finally, Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN lifted its stake in Cognex by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 3,751,807 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $151,948,000 after purchasing an additional 305,913 shares during the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on CGNX. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Cognex to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price target on Cognex from $50.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Cognex from $43.00 to $42.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Citigroup lowered their target price on Cognex from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Finally, Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Cognex in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cognex has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.83.

Cognex Stock Performance

CGNX opened at $38.57 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $6.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 74.17 and a beta of 1.40. The business’s fifty day moving average is $38.43 and its 200-day moving average is $40.61. Cognex Co. has a 52-week low of $34.79 and a 52-week high of $53.13.

Cognex Increases Dividend

The company 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 0.83%. This is an increase from Cognex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 61.54%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cognex

In other Cognex 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 value of $1,040,780.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 26,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,065,118.24. This trade represents a 49.42 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CTO Joerg Kuechen sold 2,934 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.75, for a total value of $110,758.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

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.