Insider Selling: Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) CTO Sells $110,758.50 in Stock

Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) CTO Joerg Kuechen sold 2,934 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.75, for a total transaction of $110,758.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Cognex Trading Down 2.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ CGNX opened at $35.61 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $39.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.83. Cognex Co. has a twelve month low of $34.79 and a twelve month high of $53.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.11 billion, a PE ratio of 68.48 and a beta of 1.39.

Cognex Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 14th were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This is an increase from Cognex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 61.54%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cognex

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake 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 in the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. raised its holdings in Cognex by 9.4% in 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 acquiring an additional 349 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its stake in 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 worth $179,000 after acquiring an additional 390 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Cognex by 123.1% during the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 714 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 394 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Cognex by 20.1% in the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 2,732 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $111,000 after purchasing an additional 457 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.