Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) Shares Sold by Slow Capital Inc.

Slow Capital Inc. lessened its position in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 25.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 60,350 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 20,243 shares during the period. Slow Capital Inc.’s holdings in Cognex were worth $2,164,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. grew its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 349 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Cognex by 123.1% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Cognex by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 25,685 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $921,000 after acquiring an additional 422 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 457 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fiduciary Trust Co grew its stake in Cognex by 9.6% in the 3rd quarter. Fiduciary Trust Co now owns 5,443 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $220,000 after acquiring an additional 475 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CGNX opened at $39.07 on Tuesday. Cognex Co. has a 1 year low of $34.79 and a 1 year high of $53.13. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $38.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $40.19. The firm has a market cap of $6.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 75.14 and a beta of 1.40.

Cognex Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This is a boost from Cognex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is 61.54%.

Insider Transactions at Cognex

In other news, Director Anthony Sun sold 26,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 26,608 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,065,118.24. The trade was a 49.42 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Joerg Kuechen sold 2,934 shares of the firm’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. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on CGNX shares. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Cognex in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Cognex to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price objective on Cognex from $50.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup reduced their target price on Cognex from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price target on Cognex from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $47.92.

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.