Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) Price Target Raised to $48.00

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) had its price target hoisted by Needham & Company LLC from $46.00 to $48.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. Needham & Company LLC currently has a buy rating on the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup increased their price target on Cognex from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Truist Financial assumed coverage on Cognex in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. They issued a buy rating and a $47.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Cognex from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Monday, February 19th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of Cognex from a neutral rating to a buy rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $42.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $48.58.

Cognex Price Performance

Shares of CGNX opened at $43.79 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.52 billion, a PE ratio of 75.50 and a beta of 1.48. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $40.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $38.90. Cognex has a 12-month low of $34.28 and a 12-month high of $59.51.

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

Cognex Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.075 per share. 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 currently 51.72%.

Insider Transactions at Cognex

In related 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 SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cognex

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. United Services Automobile Association grew its holdings in shares of Cognex by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. United Services Automobile Association now owns 11,682 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $496,000 after acquiring an additional 279 shares in the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV grew its position in Cognex by 94.4% in the first quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 589 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 286 shares in the last quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. increased its stake in shares of Cognex by 4.8% during the 1st quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. now owns 6,279 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $266,000 after purchasing an additional 287 shares during the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its stake in shares of Cognex by 11.9% during the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,760 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $115,000 after purchasing an additional 294 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina raised its holdings in shares of Cognex by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 78,043 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $3,312,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.