Stephens Raises Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) Price Target to $45.00

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) had its price target boosted by Stephens from $40.00 to $45.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock.

CGNX has been the topic of a number of other reports. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on Cognex from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday. UBS Group raised shares of Cognex from a neutral rating to a buy rating and raised their price objective for the company from $42.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Cognex from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. StockNews.com cut shares of Cognex from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Monday, February 19th. Finally, Truist Financial began coverage on Cognex in a report on Thursday, March 14th. They set a buy rating and a $47.00 price objective for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $48.67.

Cognex Trading Up 1.6 %

CGNX opened at $44.49 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $40.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.96. Cognex has a 1-year low of $34.28 and a 1-year high of $59.51. The company has a market cap of $7.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 76.71 and a beta of 1.48.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.11 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.04. Cognex had a return on equity of 6.81% and a net margin of 11.76%. The company had revenue of $196.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $189.16 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.27 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 17.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Cognex will post 0.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $0.075 per share. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.72%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cognex news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,782 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total value of $274,942.28. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cognex

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Cognex during the fourth quarter worth $12,417,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in Cognex during the 4th quarter worth about $2,016,000. Baillie Gifford & Co. boosted its stake in Cognex by 9.0% in the 4th quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 1,206,227 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $50,348,000 after purchasing an additional 99,647 shares during the period. WCM Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Cognex by 49.4% during the 4th quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 402,248 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $17,120,000 after buying an additional 132,991 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Natixis Advisors L.P. increased its position in shares of Cognex by 26.3% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 227,641 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $9,661,000 after buying an additional 47,408 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

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.