M&T Bank Corp Acquires 5,436 Shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

M&T Bank Corp grew its holdings in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 83,913 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,436 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in Cognex were worth $3,399,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its stake 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 worth $187,907,000 after buying an additional 301,916 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Cognex by 33.8% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,621,629 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $75,828,000 after purchasing an additional 409,502 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in Cognex by 1.2% during the second quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 1,309,827 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $61,248,000 after purchasing an additional 15,871 shares in the last quarter. Bridges Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cognex in the second quarter worth approximately $980,000. Finally, Legacy Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Cognex by 15.3% in the second quarter. Legacy Advisors LLC now owns 17,625 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $824,000 after purchasing an additional 2,344 shares in the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cognex news, Director Anthony Sun sold 26,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.03, for a total transaction of $1,040,780.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 26,608 shares in the company, valued at $1,065,118.24. The trade was a 49.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Cognex Stock Down 1.7 %

Cognex stock opened at $37.08 on Friday. Cognex Co. has a 52-week low of $34.79 and a 52-week high of $53.13. The company has a market cap of $6.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 71.31 and a beta of 1.39. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $39.80 and its 200 day moving average is $42.06.

Cognex Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 14th were given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.86%. This is a positive change from Cognex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 61.54%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CGNX. Needham & Company LLC dropped their target price on shares of Cognex from $50.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Truist Financial downgraded Cognex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $46.00 to $43.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Stephens upgraded shares of Cognex from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $45.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cognex has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target 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.