Covea Finance Buys 26,000 Shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Covea Finance grew its position in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 54.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 73,500 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after acquiring an additional 26,000 shares during the quarter. Covea Finance’s holdings in Cognex were worth $2,636,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Riverview Trust Co purchased a new stake in Cognex in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Cognex by 123.1% during the 3rd 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 period. Truvestments Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cognex during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Clean Yield Group raised its holdings in shares of Cognex by 1,686.7% in the 4th quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 1,072 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 1,012 shares during the period. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in Cognex in the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. 88.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on CGNX shares. Citigroup lowered their target price on Cognex from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Needham & Company LLC lowered their price objective on Cognex from $50.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Cognex to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Cognex in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Cognex from $43.00 to $42.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.83.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CTO Joerg Kuechen sold 2,934 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.75, for a total transaction of $110,758.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Anthony Sun sold 26,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 26,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,065,118.24. The trade was a 49.42 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Cognex Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CGNX opened at $38.57 on Wednesday. Cognex Co. has a 52-week low of $34.79 and a 52-week high of $53.13. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $38.43 and a 200 day moving average of $40.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 74.17 and a beta of 1.40.

Cognex Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. This is an increase from Cognex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 61.54%.

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.