Paloma Partners Management Co Purchases 170,612 Shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Paloma Partners Management Co increased its position in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 1,537.0% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 181,712 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after buying an additional 170,612 shares during the quarter. Paloma Partners Management Co’s holdings in Cognex were worth $7,359,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CGNX. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its position in Cognex by 88.7% in the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 9,463 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $402,000 after purchasing an additional 4,448 shares during the period. Comerica Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 6.3% during the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 104,389 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $4,428,000 after acquiring an additional 6,218 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 276.1% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,087 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 798 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 51.6% during the second quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 49,770 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $2,327,000 after acquiring an additional 16,931 shares during the period. Finally, CWM LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 50.4% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 85,552 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $4,000,000 after acquiring an additional 28,653 shares during the period. 88.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on CGNX shares. Truist Financial cut Cognex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $46.00 to $43.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Needham & Company LLC cut their price objective on 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 lowered their target price on 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 Cognex from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Stephens upgraded Cognex from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $45.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $47.91.

Insider Transactions at Cognex

In related news, CFO Dennis Fehr bought 6,570 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $38.04 per share, for a total transaction of $249,922.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 6,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $249,922.80. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Anthony Sun sold 26,000 shares of the business’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 transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of CGNX stock opened at $39.98 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $40.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.66. The firm has a market cap of $6.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 76.89 and a beta of 1.40. Cognex Co. has a 12 month low of $34.79 and a 12 month high of $53.13.

Cognex Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 is a positive change from Cognex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. 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. Cognex’s payout ratio is presently 61.54%.

Cognex Company 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.