The Goldman Sachs Group Increases Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) Price Target to $41.00

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) had its price objective hoisted by The Goldman Sachs Group from $36.00 to $41.00 in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a sell rating on the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. UBS Group upgraded Cognex from a neutral rating to a buy rating and upped their target price for the company from $42.00 to $54.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Cognex from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Truist Financial initiated coverage on shares of Cognex in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. They set a buy rating and a $47.00 target price on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on shares of Cognex from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Cognex from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $49.15.

Cognex Trading Up 0.9 %

CGNX opened at $46.32 on Monday. Cognex has a twelve month low of $34.28 and a twelve month high of $59.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.95 billion, a PE ratio of 79.86 and a beta of 1.48. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $41.10 and its 200 day moving average price is $39.07.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $196.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $189.16 million. Cognex had a net margin of 11.76% and a return on equity of 6.81%. The business’s revenue was down 17.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.27 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Cognex will post 0.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be issued a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.65%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.72%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cognex news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,782 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total transaction of $274,942.28. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 1.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CGNX. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in Cognex in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $12,417,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in Cognex in the fourth quarter valued at $2,016,000. Baillie Gifford & Co. grew its stake in Cognex by 9.0% during 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 in the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC increased 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 worth $17,120,000 after purchasing an additional 132,991 shares during the period. Finally, Natixis Advisors L.P. raised its position in Cognex by 26.3% in the 3rd 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 purchasing an additional 47,408 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.