Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC Sells 659 Shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC trimmed its position in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 33,396 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 659 shares during the quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Cognex were worth $1,198,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Riverview Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of Cognex during the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Cognex by 123.1% in 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 buying an additional 394 shares during the period. Truvestments Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cognex in the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in shares of Cognex in the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, Clean Yield Group boosted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 1,686.7% in the fourth quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 1,072 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 1,012 shares during the period. 88.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on CGNX. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price objective on shares of Cognex from $50.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Cognex to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Cognex from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Cognex in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Cognex from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $47.92.

Cognex Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CGNX opened at $40.55 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $38.12 and its 200 day moving average price is $40.25. Cognex Co. has a 12 month low of $34.79 and a 12 month high of $53.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 77.98 and a beta of 1.40.

Cognex Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were paid a $0.08 dividend. 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 payout ratio is currently 61.54%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cognex

In other news, Director Anthony Sun sold 26,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 26,608 shares in the company, valued at $1,065,118.24. The trade was a 49.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CTO Joerg Kuechen sold 2,934 shares of the business’s 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 disclosure for this sale 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.