New York State Common Retirement Fund Sells 8,300 Shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

New York State Common Retirement Fund reduced its stake in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 1.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 721,039 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 8,300 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned about 0.42% of Cognex worth $25,856,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of CGNX. 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. Truvestments Capital LLC acquired a new position in Cognex in the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Clean Yield Group lifted its holdings in Cognex by 1,686.7% in the fourth quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 1,072 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 1,012 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in Cognex by 50.2% in the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 1,047 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 350 shares during the period. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in Cognex in the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. 88.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CGNX has been the topic of several analyst reports. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Cognex from $58.00 to $56.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Truist Financial reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $37.00 target price (down from $43.00) on shares of Cognex in a report on Friday, February 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Cognex to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Needham & Company LLC cut their target price on shares of Cognex from $47.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, HSBC lowered shares of Cognex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $33.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $44.83.

Insider Activity at Cognex

In related news, CTO Joerg Kuechen sold 2,934 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.75, for a total value of $110,758.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Cognex Stock Down 1.8 %

Shares of CGNX stock opened at $32.80 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $37.35 and a 200-day moving average of $38.74. Cognex Co. has a 12-month low of $32.35 and a 12-month high of $53.13. The company has a market capitalization of $5.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.77 and a beta of 1.40.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.15 by ($0.01). Cognex had a return on equity of 5.65% and a net margin of 11.61%. On average, equities analysts expect that Cognex Co. will post 0.62 EPS for the current year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th will be given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.98%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 27th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.46%.

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.