Blue Trust Inc. Sells 851 Shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Blue Trust Inc. lowered its position in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 39.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,320 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 851 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Cognex were worth $47,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Cognex by 9.4% during the third quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 4,055 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $164,000 after buying an additional 349 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in 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 worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 394 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Cognex by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 25,685 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $921,000 after acquiring an additional 422 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Cognex by 20.1% during the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 2,732 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $111,000 after acquiring an additional 457 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fiduciary Trust Co lifted its stake in shares of Cognex by 9.6% in the 3rd quarter. Fiduciary Trust Co now owns 5,443 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $220,000 after purchasing an additional 475 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Cognex

In other Cognex news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.73, for a total transaction of $222,662.19. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 4,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $149,445.18. The trade was a 59.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CTO Joerg Kuechen sold 2,934 shares of the firm’s 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. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Trading Up 1.2 %

CGNX opened at $33.19 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.41 and a beta of 1.40. Cognex Co. has a 12 month low of $32.14 and a 12 month high of $53.13. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $37.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.67.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.15 by ($0.01). Cognex had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 5.65%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Cognex Co. will post 0.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 27th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.46%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on CGNX shares. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on Cognex from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Needham & Company LLC decreased their target price on Cognex from $47.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Truist Financial reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $37.00 price target (down from $43.00) on shares of Cognex in a research report on Friday, February 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Cognex from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Cognex in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Cognex currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $44.83.

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.