Baillie Gifford & Co. Sells 6,946 Shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Baillie Gifford & Co. lessened its position in Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 0.5% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,292,229 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 6,946 shares during the quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co.’s holdings in Cognex were worth $52,335,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CGNX. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Cognex by 19.8% during the 2nd quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,819 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $85,000 after acquiring an additional 301 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its position in Cognex by 11.3% in the second quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,829 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $179,000 after purchasing an additional 390 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd increased its stake in Cognex by 18.7% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,977 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $126,000 after buying an additional 469 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning lifted its position in Cognex by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 21,919 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $888,000 after buying an additional 512 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cognex by 43.2% during the 2nd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,704 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $80,000 after buying an additional 514 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Dennis Fehr acquired 6,570 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $38.04 per share, with a total value of $249,922.80. Following the acquisition, the chief financial officer now directly owns 6,570 shares in the company, valued at $249,922.80. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CGNX has been the topic of several analyst reports. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Cognex from $46.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Cognex from $45.00 to $39.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com raised shares of Cognex from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Vertical Research assumed coverage on shares of Cognex in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $58.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Needham & Company LLC decreased their price objective on shares of Cognex from $50.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $47.91.

Cognex Stock Performance

Shares of CGNX opened at $42.19 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $39.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.09. The firm has a market cap of $7.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 81.14 and a beta of 1.40. Cognex Co. has a 52 week low of $34.79 and a 52 week high of $53.13.

Cognex Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.76%. This is a positive change from Cognex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 57.69%.

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.