Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) Given New $37.00 Price Target at Citigroup

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) had its price objective boosted by Citigroup from $30.00 to $37.00 in a report issued on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. Citigroup currently has a neutral rating on the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on CGNX. UBS Group lowered their price target on Cognex from $56.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on Cognex from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 11th. Cowen raised Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Cognex from $37.00 to $29.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Cognex from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $41.62.

Cognex Stock Down 1.6%

NASDAQ CGNX opened at $33.78 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $30.85 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $31.98. Cognex has a twelve month low of $22.67 and a twelve month high of $53.13. The company has a market capitalization of $5.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.68 and a beta of 1.47.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.95%. Cognex’s payout ratio is presently 47.06%.

Institutional Trading of Cognex

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of CGNX. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,479,828 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $662,687,000 after purchasing an additional 296,251 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Cognex by 32.0% in the 1st quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,082,319 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $181,436,000 after acquiring an additional 1,474,832 shares during the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Cognex by 27.3% in the 4th quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 5,840,117 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $209,427,000 after acquiring an additional 1,253,996 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its holdings in Cognex by 126.2% in the 1st quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 4,609,802 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $137,510,000 after acquiring an additional 2,571,457 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its holdings in Cognex by 13.7% in the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 3,820,394 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $136,999,000 after acquiring an additional 461,724 shares during the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is 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.