Stephens Inc. AR Purchases 815 Shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Stephens Inc. AR boosted its position in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 11,845 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after acquiring an additional 815 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Cognex were worth $480,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Riverview Trust Co bought a new position in Cognex in the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S raised its stake in shares of Cognex by 303.1% in the first 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 raised its stake in shares of 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 worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 798 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Cognex in the second quarter worth approximately $55,000. Finally, Signaturefd LLC raised its stake 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 worth $80,000 after purchasing an additional 514 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

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 transaction, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Price Performance

NASDAQ:CGNX opened at $42.60 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $39.50 and a two-hundred 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 company has a market capitalization of $7.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 81.92 and a beta of 1.40.

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 given a $0.08 dividend. This is an increase from Cognex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 14th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 61.54%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on CGNX. DA Davidson lowered their price objective on Cognex from $41.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 5th. StockNews.com raised Cognex from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Needham & Company LLC lowered their price objective on Cognex from $50.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on Cognex from $45.00 to $39.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Truist Financial downgraded Cognex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $46.00 to $43.00 in a research report on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cognex presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $47.91.

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.