Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Has $2.18 Million Stock Position in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky reduced its holdings in shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 53,939 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 1,500 shares during the quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in Cognex were worth $2,184,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 5.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,608,028 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $146,157,000 after acquiring an additional 175,423 shares during the last quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN increased its position in Cognex by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 3,751,807 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $151,948,000 after purchasing an additional 305,913 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp lifted its stake in Cognex by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 83,913 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $3,399,000 after purchasing an additional 5,436 shares during the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC boosted its position in Cognex by 4.0% in the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 12,491 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $506,000 after buying an additional 478 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Cognex by 8.2% during the third quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 70,028 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $2,836,000 after buying an additional 5,280 shares during the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cognex news, CTO Joerg Kuechen sold 2,934 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.75, for a total transaction of $110,758.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Anthony Sun sold 26,000 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,065,118.24. This trade represents a 49.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CGNX has been the topic of several recent research reports. Truist Financial downgraded Cognex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $46.00 to $43.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Stephens raised Cognex from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $45.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reduced their price target on Cognex from $50.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $47.91.

Cognex Price Performance

Shares of CGNX stock opened at $37.47 on Tuesday. Cognex Co. has a one year low of $34.79 and a one year high of $53.13. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $39.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.43 billion, a PE ratio of 72.06 and a beta of 1.39.

Cognex Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. This is a boost from Cognex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.85%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is 61.54%.

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.