Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) Receives $47.92 Average PT from Brokerages

Shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $47.83.

A number of analysts recently weighed in on CGNX shares. Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of Cognex from $43.00 to $42.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Cognex from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Cognex in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Cognex to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lowered their price target on Cognex from $50.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st.

Cognex Stock Performance

CGNX stock opened at $38.52 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $38.35 and its 200 day moving average price is $40.60. Cognex has a fifty-two week low of $34.79 and a fifty-two week high of $53.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 74.08 and a beta of 1.40.

Cognex Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were issued a $0.08 dividend. This is an increase from Cognex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 61.54%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Anthony Sun sold 26,000 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 26,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,065,118.24. This trade represents a 49.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CTO Joerg Kuechen sold 2,934 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.75, for a total value of $110,758.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cognex

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Impax Asset Management Group plc lifted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 2.6% during the third quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 5,230,271 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $211,303,000 after purchasing an additional 131,560 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in Cognex by 0.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,190,365 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $210,210,000 after acquiring an additional 42,882 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its position in Cognex by 8.1% in the second quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 4,018,539 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $187,907,000 after acquiring an additional 301,916 shares in the last quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN raised its position in Cognex by 8.9% in the third quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 3,751,807 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $151,948,000 after acquiring an additional 305,913 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Cognex by 5.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,608,028 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $146,157,000 after acquiring an additional 175,423 shares in the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.