US Bancorp DE Has $1.95 Million Stock Holdings in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

US Bancorp DE decreased its position in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 48,251 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 4,747 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE’s holdings in Cognex were worth $1,954,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Cognex by 1.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,522,549 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $743,307,000 after buying an additional 188,485 shares in the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc lifted its position in Cognex by 32.8% in the 2nd quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 5,098,711 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $237,812,000 after acquiring an additional 1,259,116 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Cognex by 8.1% in the 2nd quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 4,018,539 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $187,907,000 after purchasing an additional 301,916 shares during the period. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN increased its holdings in Cognex by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 3,445,894 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $161,130,000 after purchasing an additional 49,026 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Cognex by 2.5% in the 1st 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 purchasing an additional 53,267 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on CGNX shares. Truist Financial lowered 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. Stephens upgraded shares of Cognex from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $45.00 to $55.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cognex from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Needham & Company LLC lowered their target price on Cognex from $50.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Cognex from $46.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 5th. One 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $47.91.

Cognex Trading Up 6.9 %

NASDAQ:CGNX opened at $42.60 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $39.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $42.99. Cognex Co. has a 1-year low of $34.79 and a 1-year high of $53.13. The stock has a market cap of $7.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 81.92 and a beta of 1.40.

Cognex Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th will be given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 14th. This is a boost from Cognex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. Cognex’s payout ratio is presently 61.54%.

Insider Activity at Cognex

In other Cognex news, CFO Dennis Fehr acquired 6,570 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $38.04 per share, for a total transaction of $249,922.80. Following the purchase, the chief financial officer now directly owns 6,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $249,922.80. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.