Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) Lifted to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning.

Several other analysts also recently commented on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on Cognex from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Stephens raised their price target on Cognex from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Cognex from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Truist Financial increased their target price on Cognex from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Cognex from $36.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a sell rating in a research note on Monday, May 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $50.14.

Cognex Price Performance

Shares of CGNX stock opened at $49.68 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $8.53 billion, a PE ratio of 85.66 and a beta of 1.42. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $47.42 and a 200-day moving average of $42.73. Cognex has a one year low of $34.28 and a one year high of $55.08.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $210.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $198.14 million. Cognex had a net margin of 11.76% and a return on equity of 6.81%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Cognex will post 0.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th were paid a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.60%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is 51.72%.

Institutional Trading of Cognex

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Contour Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Cognex in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $11,454,000. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in shares of Cognex by 38.4% in the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 64,855 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $2,751,000 after buying an additional 17,978 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its holdings in Cognex by 153.6% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 134,516 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $5,706,000 after buying an additional 81,467 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in Cognex by 30.5% during the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 870,822 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $36,940,000 after acquiring an additional 203,684 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Cognex by 1.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,522,549 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $743,307,000 after acquiring an additional 188,485 shares during 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.