Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. Sells 5,600 Shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. decreased its holdings in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 3.3% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 163,540 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 5,600 shares during the quarter. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Cognex were worth $6,623,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Insider Activity

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

Cognex Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of Cognex stock opened at $39.98 on Monday. Cognex Co. has a 52 week low of $34.79 and a 52 week high of $53.13. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $40.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $42.66. The company has a market capitalization of $6.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 76.89 and a beta of 1.40.

Cognex Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were issued 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 61.54%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on CGNX. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Cognex from $46.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Truist Financial downgraded shares of Cognex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $46.00 to $43.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Stephens raised shares of Cognex from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $45.00 to $55.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price target on shares of Cognex from $50.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Cognex from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cognex has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.