Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) have earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the fourteen analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have issued a hold recommendation, five have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $48.58.

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on CGNX shares. Stephens raised their price objective on shares of Cognex from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on Cognex from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Citigroup lifted their target price on Cognex from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. StockNews.com cut Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, February 19th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on Cognex from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday.

Cognex Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of Cognex stock opened at $43.79 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 66.35 and a beta of 1.48. Cognex has a 12-month low of $34.28 and a 12-month high of $59.51. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $38.89.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.11 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.04. Cognex had a return on equity of 6.86% and a net margin of 13.52%. The company had revenue of $196.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $189.16 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.27 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 17.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Cognex will post 0.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.69%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cognex news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,782 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total transaction of $274,942.28. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CGNX. Norges Bank bought a new position in Cognex during the fourth quarter worth about $58,641,000. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in Cognex by 156.5% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,065,693 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $86,862,000 after acquiring an additional 1,260,282 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Cognex by 17.8% during the third quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 5,536,355 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $234,962,000 after acquiring an additional 837,487 shares in the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc lifted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 16.0% in the third quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,811,495 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $119,320,000 after purchasing an additional 387,860 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 24.7% in the first quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC now owns 1,576,558 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $66,878,000 after purchasing an additional 312,098 shares in the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.