US Bancorp DE Has $1.95 Million Stake in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

US Bancorp DE cut its position in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 48,251 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 4,747 shares during the quarter. US Bancorp DE’s holdings in Cognex were worth $1,954,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Roubaix Capital LLC raised its position in Cognex by 6.1% during the third quarter. Roubaix Capital LLC now owns 82,764 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $3,352,000 after purchasing an additional 4,792 shares in the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its holdings in shares of Cognex by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 20,026 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $811,000 after buying an additional 1,350 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Cognex by 38.2% during the 3rd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 18,386 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $745,000 after buying an additional 5,084 shares during the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC bought a new position in Cognex in the third quarter valued at about $283,000. Finally, Copeland Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Cognex by 10.2% during the third quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 1,767,426 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $71,581,000 after acquiring an additional 162,965 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cognex

In other Cognex news, CFO Dennis Fehr acquired 6,570 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were bought 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. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Stock Performance

Cognex stock opened at $42.60 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $39.50 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $42.99. Cognex Co. has a 52-week low of $34.79 and a 52-week high of $53.13. The firm has a market cap of $7.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 81.92 and a beta of 1.40.

Cognex Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 14th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. This is a positive change from Cognex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.75%. Cognex’s payout ratio is presently 61.54%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CGNX. Truist Financial lowered shares of Cognex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $46.00 to $43.00 in a report on Tuesday. Stephens raised shares of Cognex from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $45.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. StockNews.com upgraded Cognex from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price objective on Cognex from $50.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, DA Davidson dropped their target price on Cognex from $41.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $47.91.

About Cognex

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.