Cognex Corp (CGNX) will increase its quarterly dividend by 9.1 percent to 6 cents per share in 2020. This follows a 10.0 percent to $0.055 per share in 2019 and a 11.1 percent dividend hike to five cents per share quarterly in 2018. Cognex has now raised its dividend five consecutive years.

The next dividend is payable on November 27, 2020 to all shareholders of record at the close of business on November 13, 2020. A new annual rate of 24 cents per share yields 0.4% at a stock price of $65.90.

Cognex will now pay its shareholders an estimated $42 million in dividends annually. In the last five years the dividend was raised by at least double digits three times.

Cognex Corporation designs, develops, manufactures and markets a wide range of image-based products, all of which use artificial intelligence (AI) techniques that give them the human-like ability to make decisions on what they see. Cognex products include barcode readers, machine vision sensors and machine vision systems that are used in factories, warehouses and distribution centers around the world to guide, gauge, inspect, identify and assure the quality of items during the manufacturing and distribution process. The company was founded in 1981 and is headquartered in Natick, Massachusetts, USA.