Retirement Systems of Alabama Sells 3,540 Shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Retirement Systems of Alabama cut its stake in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 208,331 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 3,540 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Cognex were worth $8,437,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Impax Asset Management Group plc raised its position in shares of Cognex by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 5,230,271 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $211,303,000 after buying an additional 131,560 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in Cognex by 0.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,190,365 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $210,210,000 after acquiring an additional 42,882 shares during the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Cognex by 8.1% in 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 acquiring an additional 301,916 shares during the last quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN raised its position in Cognex by 8.9% during the third quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 3,751,807 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $151,948,000 after purchasing an additional 305,913 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Cognex by 5.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,608,028 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $146,157,000 after purchasing an additional 175,423 shares during the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Cognex Stock Down 2.4 %

NASDAQ:CGNX opened at $36.57 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 70.33 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 has a fifty day moving average of $39.76 and a 200 day moving average of $41.94.

Cognex Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 61.54%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Anthony Sun sold 26,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were 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 directly owns 26,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,065,118.24. This trade represents a 49.42 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CTO Joerg Kuechen sold 2,934 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were 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 owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CGNX has been the topic of several recent research reports. Truist Financial lowered Cognex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $46.00 to $43.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price target on shares of Cognex from $50.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Stephens upgraded shares of Cognex from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $45.00 to $55.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average 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.