Prudential Financial Inc. Has $507,000 Position in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Prudential Financial Inc. trimmed its position in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 35.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 12,793 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 7,123 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in Cognex were worth $507,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CGNX. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Cognex during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Cognex by 50.0% in the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 885 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 295 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in Cognex during the third quarter worth approximately $40,000. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in Cognex by 129.9% during the 4th quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 1,007 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 569 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. raised its holdings in Cognex by 50.2% in the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 1,047 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 350 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Cognex

In other news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.73, for a total value of $222,662.19. Following the transaction, 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Stock Performance

CGNX stock opened at $25.78 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.26 and a beta of 1.56. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $32.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $36.65. Cognex Co. has a 52-week low of $22.67 and a 52-week high of $53.13.

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

Cognex Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.24%. Cognex’s payout ratio is 52.46%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on CGNX shares. Needham & Company LLC cut their price objective on shares of 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 reduced their price target on shares of Cognex from $37.00 to $29.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Cognex to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on Cognex from $58.00 to $56.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $44.17.

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.