Truist Financial Cuts Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) Price Target to $29.00

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) had its price objective reduced by analysts at Truist Financial from $37.00 to $29.00 in a research note issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “hold” rating on the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock. Truist Financial’s price target indicates a potential upside of 12.49% from the company’s previous close.

CGNX has been the subject of several other research reports. Needham & Company LLC lowered their price objective on shares of Cognex from $47.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. HSBC cut shares of Cognex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $33.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of Cognex from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Cognex from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Cognex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $44.17.

Cognex Stock Up 10.8 %

NASDAQ CGNX opened at $25.78 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $4.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.26 and a beta of 1.56. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $32.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.65. Cognex has a twelve month low of $22.67 and a twelve month high of $53.13.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by ($0.01). Cognex had a return on equity of 5.65% and a net margin of 11.61%. Research analysts anticipate that Cognex will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.73, for a total value of $222,662.19. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 4,566 shares in the company, valued at $149,445.18. The trade was a 59.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cognex

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. NBC Securities Inc. bought a new stake in Cognex during the 1st quarter valued at $54,000. Kopion Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 28.2% in the 1st quarter. Kopion Asset Management LLC now owns 244,302 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $7,288,000 after buying an additional 53,684 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Cognex by 7,515.1% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 31,679 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $945,000 after purchasing an additional 31,263 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in Cognex by 56.9% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 28,844 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,034,000 after purchasing an additional 10,458 shares during the period. Finally, Centaurus Financial Inc. boosted its position in Cognex by 16.0% during the fourth quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 3,267 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $117,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

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.