Corebridge Financial Inc. Has $6.96 Million Position in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Corebridge Financial Inc. cut its holdings in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 4.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 194,183 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 8,736 shares during the quarter. Corebridge Financial Inc. owned about 0.11% of Cognex worth $6,963,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Cognex by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,784,239 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $72,262,000 after purchasing an additional 87,790 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Cognex by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,427,756 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $51,199,000 after buying an additional 42,292 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cognex in the third quarter worth about $790,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cognex by 75.1% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,870 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $102,000 after acquiring an additional 1,231 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TCW Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Cognex by 19.8% during the 3rd quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 583,150 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $23,618,000 after acquiring an additional 96,330 shares during the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Cognex Trading Down 2.4 %

Shares of CGNX stock opened at $30.01 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.20 and a beta of 1.43. Cognex Co. has a 12 month low of $29.58 and a 12 month high of $53.13. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $34.84 and a two-hundred day moving average of $37.51.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by ($0.01). Cognex had a return on equity of 5.65% and a net margin of 11.61%. Sell-side analysts predict that Cognex Co. will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th were given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.07%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.46%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.73, for a total value of $222,662.19. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 4,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $149,445.18. This represents a 59.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on CGNX. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Cognex from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Needham & Company LLC lowered their target price on shares of Cognex from $47.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Truist Financial reissued a “hold” rating and set a $37.00 target price (down previously from $43.00) on shares of Cognex in a research report on Friday, February 14th. UBS Group lowered their price target on Cognex from $58.00 to $56.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised Cognex to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $44.83.

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.