Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC Sells 79,608 Shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC cut its holdings in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 3.9% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,977,093 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 79,608 shares during the quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC’s holdings in Cognex were worth $80,072,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CGNX. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Cognex by 19.8% in the second quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,819 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $85,000 after purchasing an additional 301 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Cognex by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 4,055 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $164,000 after buying an additional 349 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 11.3% in the 2nd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,829 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $179,000 after acquiring an additional 390 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Cognex by 123.1% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 714 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 394 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Cognex by 20.1% during the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 2,732 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $111,000 after acquiring an additional 457 shares during the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cognex

In other news, Director Anthony Sun sold 26,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 approximately $1,065,118.24. This trade represents a 49.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Dennis Fehr acquired 6,570 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $38.04 per share, with a total value of $249,922.80. Following the purchase, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on CGNX shares. Truist Financial cut Cognex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $46.00 to $43.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. StockNews.com raised shares of Cognex from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Stephens raised shares of Cognex from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $45.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. DA Davidson dropped their price target on shares of Cognex from $41.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reduced their price objective 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $47.91.

Cognex Price Performance

Shares of CGNX opened at $39.98 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 76.89 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a 50-day moving average of $40.09 and a 200 day moving average of $42.66. Cognex Co. has a 1-year low of $34.79 and a 1-year high of $53.13.

Cognex Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 14th were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.80%. This is a boost from Cognex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is 61.54%.

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.