Cognex Co. to Post Q2 2024 Earnings of $0.12 Per Share, DA Davidson Forecasts (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) – Analysts at DA Davidson issued their Q2 2024 earnings estimates for shares of Cognex in a research report issued on Monday, May 6th. DA Davidson analyst M. Summerville anticipates that the scientific and technical instruments company will post earnings per share of $0.12 for the quarter. The consensus estimate for Cognex’s current full-year earnings is $0.44 per share. DA Davidson also issued estimates for Cognex’s FY2024 earnings at $0.45 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $0.90 EPS.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.04. Cognex had a net margin of 11.76% and a return on equity of 6.81%. The firm had revenue of $196.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $189.16 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.27 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 17.8% on a year-over-year basis.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on CGNX. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Cognex from $36.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Cognex from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Cognex from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $42.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Stephens boosted their target price on shares of Cognex from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Cognex from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $48.67.

Cognex Price Performance

Shares of Cognex stock opened at $44.49 on Tuesday. Cognex has a 12 month low of $34.28 and a 12 month high of $59.51. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.79 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $38.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 76.71 and a beta of 1.48.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.075 per share. 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 0.67%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.72%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cognex

In other 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cognex

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Cognex in the 4th quarter valued at $58,641,000. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in Cognex by 156.5% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,065,693 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $86,862,000 after buying an additional 1,260,282 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Cognex by 17.8% in the third quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 5,536,355 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $234,962,000 after buying an additional 837,487 shares in the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc lifted its holdings in Cognex by 16.0% during the 3rd quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,811,495 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $119,320,000 after buying an additional 387,860 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC boosted its position in shares of Cognex by 24.7% during the 1st quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC now owns 1,576,558 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $66,878,000 after acquiring an additional 312,098 shares in the last quarter. 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.