Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC Decreases Stake in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC lessened its stake in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 3.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,977,093 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 79,608 shares during the quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC owned approximately 1.15% of Cognex worth $80,072,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in CGNX. Riverview Trust Co bought a new stake in Cognex during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Cognex by 123.1% during the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 714 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 394 shares during the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Cognex during the third quarter valued at about $36,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew 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. Finally, Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in Cognex during the 2nd quarter valued at about $55,000. Institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Stock Down 0.3 %

CGNX stock opened at $39.98 on Monday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $40.09 and a 200 day moving average of $42.66. The firm has a market cap of $6.86 billion, a PE ratio of 76.89 and a beta of 1.40. Cognex Co. has a twelve month low of $34.79 and a twelve month high of $53.13.

Cognex Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. This is a positive change from Cognex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. Cognex’s payout ratio is currently 61.54%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on CGNX shares. DA Davidson dropped their price objective on Cognex from $41.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 5th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of 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 reduced 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, November 1st. Truist Financial cut shares of Cognex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $46.00 to $43.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Cognex from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $47.91.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Anthony Sun sold 26,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 26,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,065,118.24. This trade represents a 49.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Dennis Fehr acquired 6,570 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 $249,922.80. This represents a ∞ increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.