Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $47.92.

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Needham & Company LLC cut their target price on shares of Cognex from $50.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Truist Financial decreased their target price on Cognex from $43.00 to $42.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Cognex to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cognex

In other Cognex news, CTO Joerg Kuechen sold 2,934 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.75, for a total transaction of $110,758.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Anthony Sun sold 26,000 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.03, for a total transaction of $1,040,780.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 26,608 shares in the company, valued at $1,065,118.24. This represents a 49.42 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cognex

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CGNX. Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its stake in shares of Cognex by 122.7% in the third quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,834,755 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $114,808,000 after buying an additional 1,562,115 shares during the period. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Cognex by 116.0% in the third quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 789,550 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $31,977,000 after purchasing an additional 423,950 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Cognex by 33.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,621,629 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $75,828,000 after purchasing an additional 409,502 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Cognex by 26.8% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,746,783 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $81,680,000 after buying an additional 369,442 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. boosted its holdings in Cognex by 91.5% in the 3rd quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. now owns 642,737 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $26,031,000 after buying an additional 307,018 shares during the period. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cognex Stock Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ:CGNX opened at $37.50 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $38.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $40.94. The stock has a market cap of $6.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 72.12 and a beta of 1.40. Cognex has a twelve month low of $34.79 and a twelve month high of $53.13.

Cognex Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 14th were issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.85%. This is an increase from Cognex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 61.54%.

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.