Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. Trims Holdings in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 20.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 130,540 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 33,000 shares during the quarter. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Cognex were worth $4,681,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Riverview Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Cognex in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Cognex by 123.1% during 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 acquiring an additional 394 shares during the period. Truvestments Capital LLC acquired a new position in Cognex in the 3rd quarter worth about $36,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in Cognex during the third quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, Clean Yield Group grew its holdings in 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of CGNX opened at $40.38 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $6.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 77.66 and a beta of 1.40. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $38.10 and its 200 day moving average price is $40.35. Cognex Co. has a 12-month low of $34.79 and a 12-month high of $53.13.

Cognex Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 0.79%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 61.54%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on CGNX. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Cognex from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Truist Financial increased their target price on Cognex from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Cognex in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Needham & Company LLC lowered their target price 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, Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Cognex to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cognex has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $47.92.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Anthony Sun sold 26,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 26,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,065,118.24. The trade was a 49.42 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Joerg Kuechen sold 2,934 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.75, for a total value of $110,758.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

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.