New York State Common Retirement Fund Trims Stake in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

New York State Common Retirement Fund lessened its position in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 15.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 729,339 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 131,191 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Cognex were worth $29,538,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Riverview Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of Cognex during the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S grew its position in Cognex by 303.1% during the 1st quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 770 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 579 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Cognex by 276.1% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,087 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 798 shares during the period. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Cognex in the second quarter valued at about $55,000. Finally, Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cognex by 43.2% during the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,704 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $80,000 after buying an additional 514 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CGNX. DA Davidson dropped their price target on Cognex from $41.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Needham & Company LLC dropped their target price on Cognex from $50.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Stephens raised Cognex from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $45.00 to $55.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. StockNews.com raised shares of Cognex from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Vertical Research assumed coverage on shares of Cognex in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $58.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $49.17.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Dennis Fehr bought 6,570 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were bought at an average price of $38.04 per share, with a total value of $249,922.80. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer now owns 6,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $249,922.80. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Cognex news, CFO Dennis Fehr purchased 6,570 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were bought at an average price of $38.04 per share, with a total value of $249,922.80. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer now directly owns 6,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $249,922.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Dianne M. Parrotte acquired 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $38.62 per share, with a total value of $77,240.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 11,340 shares in the company, valued at approximately $437,950.80. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Cognex Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of CGNX opened at $40.41 on Monday. Cognex Co. has a twelve month low of $34.79 and a twelve month high of $53.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 77.71 and a beta of 1.40. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $39.39 and its two-hundred day moving average is $42.96.

Cognex Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 14th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. This is an increase from Cognex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 14th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 57.69%.

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.