Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) Price Target Raised to $41.00

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) had its target price raised by stock analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group from $36.00 to $41.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “sell” rating on the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock. The Goldman Sachs Group’s price target points to a potential downside of 10.68% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on CGNX. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on shares of Cognex from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. StockNews.com downgraded Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, February 19th. Truist Financial assumed coverage on Cognex in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $47.00 price objective on the stock. Stephens lifted their target price on Cognex from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, UBS Group raised Cognex from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $42.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cognex presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $49.15.

Cognex Price Performance

Shares of Cognex stock opened at $45.90 on Monday. Cognex has a 1-year low of $34.28 and a 1-year high of $59.51. The business has a 50-day moving average of $40.93 and a 200-day moving average of $39.02. The company has a market capitalization of $7.88 billion, a PE ratio of 79.14 and a beta of 1.48.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last posted 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 the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $196.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $189.16 million. Cognex had a return on equity of 6.81% and a net margin of 11.76%. Cognex’s revenue for the quarter was down 17.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.27 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Cognex will post 0.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,782 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cognex

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CGNX. United Services Automobile Association increased its holdings in 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 worth $496,000 after buying an additional 279 shares during the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV grew its position in Cognex by 94.4% in the first quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 589 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 286 shares in the last quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. increased its stake in shares of Cognex by 4.8% during 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 purchasing an additional 287 shares during the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its holdings in shares of Cognex by 11.9% during the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,760 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $115,000 after purchasing an additional 294 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lifted its stake in shares of Cognex by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 78,043 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $3,312,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by 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.