Nisa Investment Advisors LLC Sells 7,940 Shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 28.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 19,775 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 7,940 shares during the quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Cognex were worth $801,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Riverview Trust Co acquired a new position in Cognex in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S grew its position in shares of Cognex by 303.1% in the 1st quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 770 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 579 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Cognex by 276.1% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,087 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 798 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in Cognex during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $55,000. Finally, Signaturefd LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 43.2% in the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,704 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $80,000 after buying an additional 514 shares during the period. 88.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Dianne M. Parrotte bought 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $38.62 per share, for a total transaction of $77,240.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 11,340 shares in the company, valued at $437,950.80. The trade was a 0.00 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Dennis Fehr acquired 6,570 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $38.04 per share, with a total value of $249,922.80. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer now directly owns 6,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $249,922.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Dianne M. Parrotte acquired 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $38.62 per share, with a total value of $77,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 11,340 shares of the company’s stock, 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. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Trading Up 1.1 %

Cognex stock opened at $40.85 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 78.56 and a beta of 1.40. Cognex Co. has a 12 month low of $34.79 and a 12 month high of $53.13. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $39.42 and its 200-day moving average is $42.98.

Cognex Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 14th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. This is an increase from Cognex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 57.69%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on CGNX shares. Needham & Company LLC cut their price objective on shares of Cognex from $50.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Stephens raised Cognex from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $45.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Cognex from $55.00 to $46.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Cognex from $45.00 to $39.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, DA Davidson lowered their price target 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $49.17.

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.