MetLife Investment Management LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

MetLife Investment Management LLC lowered its holdings in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 89,069 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 1,758 shares during the quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC owned approximately 0.05% of Cognex worth $3,607,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in Cognex in the third quarter worth approximately $2,348,000. Truvestments Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Cognex in the 3rd quarter worth $36,000. Swedbank AB raised its position in shares of Cognex by 21.4% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,700,000 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $68,850,000 after acquiring an additional 300,000 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cognex by 42.8% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 73,007 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $2,957,000 after purchasing an additional 21,876 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Trust N.A. boosted its position in Cognex by 95.3% during the third quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 30,918 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,252,000 after purchasing an additional 15,090 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CGNX opened at $40.33 on Tuesday. Cognex Co. has a 52-week low of $34.79 and a 52-week high of $53.13. The stock has a market cap of $6.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 77.56 and a beta of 1.40. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $40.11 and a 200-day moving average price of $42.61.

Cognex Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. 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. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.79%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 61.54%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cognex

In other news, Director Anthony Sun sold 26,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.03, for a total value of $1,040,780.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 26,608 shares in the company, valued at $1,065,118.24. This represents a 49.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Dennis Fehr bought 6,570 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $38.04 per share, for a total transaction of $249,922.80. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer now owns 6,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $249,922.80. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CGNX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Needham & Company LLC reduced 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. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on shares of Cognex from $46.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 5th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cognex from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Truist Financial downgraded Cognex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $46.00 to $43.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, DA Davidson decreased 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price 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.