Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) Receives $40.25 Average PT from Brokerages

Shares of Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have given a hold recommendation, six have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $40.25.

CGNX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $37.00 target price (up previously from $30.00) on shares of Cognex in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on shares of Cognex from $33.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 11th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Cognex from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, June 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Cognex from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 12th. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $32.00 target price on shares of Cognex in a research report on Monday, June 16th.

Institutional Trading of Cognex

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CGNX. Teacher Retirement System of Texas bought a new stake in shares of Cognex during the 4th quarter worth about $1,153,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new stake in Cognex in the 4th quarter worth about $1,262,000. LPL Financial LLC raised its stake in Cognex by 37.0% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 47,381 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,699,000 after purchasing an additional 12,797 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Cognex by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,479,828 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $662,687,000 after purchasing an additional 296,251 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Cognex in the 4th quarter worth about $46,299,000. Institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Stock Down 1.5%

Shares of CGNX stock opened at $33.76 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $31.81 and a 200-day moving average of $31.81. Cognex has a 12-month low of $22.67 and a 12-month high of $50.34. The company has a market capitalization of $5.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.65 and a beta of 1.47.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $249.09 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $246.70 million. Cognex had a net margin of 12.80% and a return on equity of 6.37%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.23 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Cognex will post 0.61 EPS for the current year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.95%. Cognex’s payout ratio is 47.06%.

About Cognex

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.