Swiss National Bank Decreases Position in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Swiss National Bank decreased its position in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 0.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 335,100 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 2,900 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned approximately 0.20% of Cognex worth $13,572,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Impax Asset Management Group plc increased its position in shares of Cognex by 2.6% in the third quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 5,230,271 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $211,303,000 after acquiring an additional 131,560 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Cognex by 8.1% in the second quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 4,018,539 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $187,907,000 after acquiring an additional 301,916 shares during the period. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN increased its position in shares of Cognex by 1.4% in the second quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 3,445,894 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $161,130,000 after acquiring an additional 49,026 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Cognex by 2.5% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 2,154,625 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $91,399,000 after acquiring an additional 53,267 shares during the period. Finally, Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of Cognex by 30.5% in the second quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC now owns 2,056,701 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $96,171,000 after acquiring an additional 480,143 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Stock Performance

Shares of Cognex stock opened at $40.67 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.98 billion, a PE ratio of 75.52 and a beta of 1.40. Cognex Co. has a 52-week low of $34.79 and a 52-week high of $53.13. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $39.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.96.

Cognex Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 14th. This is a boost from Cognex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.79%. Cognex’s payout ratio is 61.54%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Dennis Fehr bought 6,570 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was acquired at an average cost 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. This represents a ? increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on CGNX. StockNews.com raised shares of Cognex from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. DA Davidson cut their target price on shares of Cognex from $41.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Truist Financial lowered shares of Cognex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the company from $46.00 to $43.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of Cognex from $46.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Cognex from $45.00 to $39.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price 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.