Point72 Asset Management L.P. Buys 1,562,115 Shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 122.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,834,755 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after buying an additional 1,562,115 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. owned 1.65% of Cognex worth $114,808,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CGNX. William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Cognex by 8.1% during the 2nd quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 4,018,539 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $187,907,000 after purchasing an additional 301,916 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. increased its holdings in Cognex by 1.2% in the 2nd 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 acquiring an additional 15,871 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Cognex by 33.8% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,621,629 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $75,828,000 after purchasing an additional 409,502 shares in the last quarter. Bridges Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Cognex during the 2nd quarter valued at about $980,000. Finally, Legacy Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Cognex by 15.3% during the second quarter. Legacy Advisors LLC now owns 17,625 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $824,000 after purchasing an additional 2,344 shares in the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Cognex Stock Down 2.7 %

Shares of CGNX stock opened at $39.26 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $6.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 75.50 and a beta of 1.39. Cognex Co. has a 52-week low of $34.79 and a 52-week high of $53.13. The company’s 50 day moving average is $40.11 and its 200 day moving average is $42.55.

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 0.82%. This is a positive change from Cognex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. Cognex’s payout ratio is presently 61.54%.

Insider Activity at Cognex

In other news, Director Anthony Sun sold 26,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,065,118.24. This represents a 49.42 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CGNX has been the subject of a number of research reports. Stephens upgraded Cognex from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company 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 report on Friday, August 9th. Needham & Company LLC decreased their price objective 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, Truist Financial lowered shares of Cognex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $46.00 to $43.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. One investment 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. According to MarketBeat, Cognex currently has an average 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.