BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. Increases Stock Position in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. increased its holdings in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 16.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 130,895 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after buying an additional 18,404 shares during the quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A.’s holdings in Cognex were worth $5,301,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Cognex by 19.8% during the 2nd quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,819 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $85,000 after buying an additional 301 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its stake in shares of Cognex by 11.3% during the second quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,829 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $179,000 after purchasing an additional 390 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its stake 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 worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 394 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its position 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 buying an additional 457 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning increased its position in Cognex by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 21,919 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $888,000 after purchasing an additional 512 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CGNX has been the subject of several recent research reports. Stephens raised Cognex from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $45.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Cognex from $46.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 5th. Needham & Company LLC decreased their target price on shares of Cognex from $50.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. DA Davidson lowered their price objective on Cognex from $41.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Truist Financial cut Cognex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $46.00 to $43.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $47.91.

Cognex Price Performance

CGNX stock opened at $40.67 on Monday. Cognex Co. has a 1 year low of $34.79 and a 1 year high of $53.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.98 billion, a PE ratio of 78.21 and a beta of 1.40. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $39.97 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.91.

Cognex Increases Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Dennis Fehr purchased 6,570 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $38.04 per share, for a total transaction of $249,922.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 6,570 shares in the company, valued at approximately $249,922.80. This represents a ? increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.