Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) Price Target Raised to $45.00

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

Several other brokerages have also commented on CGNX. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Cognex from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. StockNews.com cut Cognex from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Monday, February 19th. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on shares of Cognex from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday. Truist Financial initiated coverage on Cognex in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. They set a buy rating and a $47.00 target price on the stock. Finally, UBS Group raised Cognex from a neutral rating to a buy rating and upped their price target for the stock from $42.00 to $54.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $48.58.

Cognex Price Performance

Shares of CGNX stock opened at $43.79 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 75.50 and a beta of 1.48. Cognex has a one year low of $34.28 and a one year high of $59.51. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $40.67 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $38.90.

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

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.69%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.72%.

Insider Transactions at Cognex

In other 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 value of $274,942.28. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cognex

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CGNX. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Cognex by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,334,064 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $723,524,000 after acquiring an additional 203,149 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Cognex by 17.8% in the third quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 5,536,355 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $234,962,000 after purchasing an additional 837,487 shares during the last quarter. Brown Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Cognex by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Brown Capital Management LLC now owns 5,419,313 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $226,202,000 after purchasing an additional 262,003 shares in the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc lifted its position in shares of Cognex by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,842,978 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $118,666,000 after buying an additional 31,483 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 29.0% in the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,663,900 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $113,722,000 after buying an additional 598,207 shares in the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.