Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) have received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the fourteen ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have issued a hold recommendation, five have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $48.58.

CGNX has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Truist Financial initiated coverage on shares of Cognex in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $47.00 price objective on the stock. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Cognex from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on shares of Cognex from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. StockNews.com cut shares of Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, February 19th. Finally, Stephens raised their price target on shares of Cognex from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday.

Cognex Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of Cognex stock opened at $43.79 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $40.67 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.89. Cognex has a 1-year low of $34.28 and a 1-year high of $59.51. The company has a market cap of $7.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 66.35 and a beta of 1.48.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last released 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. The company had revenue of $196.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $189.16 million. Cognex had a net margin of 13.52% and a return on equity of 6.86%. The business’s revenue was down 17.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.27 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Cognex will post 0.44 EPS 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 $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.69%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 45.46%.

Insider Activity at Cognex

In related news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,782 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total value of $274,942.28. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cognex

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC boosted its position in Cognex by 24.7% during the first quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC now owns 1,576,558 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $66,878,000 after buying an additional 312,098 shares during the period. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S boosted its position in Cognex by 303.1% during the first quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 770 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 579 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC boosted 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 valued at $36,940,000 after buying an additional 203,684 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 29.0% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,663,900 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $113,722,000 after purchasing an additional 598,207 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 81,467 shares during the period. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.