Merit Financial Group LLC Makes New Investment in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 7,459 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $267,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of CGNX. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new position in Cognex in the 2nd quarter valued at $280,000. Sei Investments Co. grew its position in shares of Cognex by 9.1% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 228,247 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $10,673,000 after purchasing an additional 18,943 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in shares of Cognex in the second quarter worth about $55,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Cognex in the second quarter worth about $173,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Cognex by 13.2% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 16,808 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $786,000 after purchasing an additional 1,957 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of CGNX opened at $40.55 on Friday. Cognex Co. has a 12 month low of $34.79 and a 12 month high of $53.13. The stock has a market cap of $6.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 77.98 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $38.12 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $40.25.

Cognex Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 14th were paid a $0.08 dividend. This is a positive change from Cognex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.79%. Cognex’s payout ratio is currently 61.54%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cognex

In other news, CTO Joerg Kuechen sold 2,934 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.75, for a total transaction of $110,758.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Anthony Sun sold 26,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.03, for a total value of $1,040,780.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 26,608 shares in the company, valued at $1,065,118.24. The trade was a 49.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CGNX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup dropped their price target on Cognex from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Cognex in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price target on shares of Cognex from $50.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Cognex to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Cognex from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cognex has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $47.92.

Cognex Company 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.