Sanford C. Bernstein Raises Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) Price Target to $55.00

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) had its target price hoisted by Sanford C. Bernstein from $52.00 to $55.00 in a report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on CGNX. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Cognex from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Friday. Needham & Company LLC increased their target price on shares of Cognex from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday. UBS Group upgraded shares of Cognex from a neutral rating to a buy rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $42.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Stephens increased their price objective on Cognex from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Truist Financial initiated coverage on Cognex in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. They set a buy rating and a $47.00 target price for the company. 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 issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Cognex presently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $48.58.

Cognex Stock Up 1.0 %

CGNX stock opened at $43.79 on Friday. Cognex has a 52-week low of $34.28 and a 52-week high of $59.51. The business has a fifty day moving average of $40.67 and a two-hundred day moving average of $38.90. The stock has a market cap of $7.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 75.50 and a beta of 1.48.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. Cognex had a return on equity of 6.81% and a net margin of 11.76%. The firm 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 company earned $0.27 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 17.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cognex will post 0.44 EPS for the current year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,782 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were 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 through this hyperlink. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cognex

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CGNX. United Services Automobile Association increased its holdings in shares of Cognex by 2.4% in the third quarter. United Services Automobile Association now owns 11,682 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $496,000 after purchasing an additional 279 shares during the period. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV raised its position in Cognex by 94.4% during the 1st quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 589 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 286 shares during the last quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Cognex by 4.8% in 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 acquiring an additional 287 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 11.9% in the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,760 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $115,000 after acquiring an additional 294 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina increased its stake in shares of Cognex by 0.4% during the third quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 78,043 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $3,312,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. 88.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.