Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) has earned an average rating of “Hold” from the seventeen ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have assigned a hold recommendation and nine have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $45.7857.

CGNX has been the topic of a number of research reports. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $50.00 target price on shares of Cognex in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $56.00 price objective (up previously from $55.00) on shares of Cognex in a research note on Friday, October 31st. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $58.00 target price on shares of Cognex in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Truist Financial lowered their price target on Cognex from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Cognex from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $42.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 16th.

Insider Activity at Cognex

In other news, Director Robert Willett sold 6,704 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.51, for a total transaction of $331,915.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cognex

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CGNX. Quent Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Cognex during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. REAP Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cognex in the third quarter worth about $27,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cognex by 74.8% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 764 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 327 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Corp purchased a new stake in Cognex during the third quarter valued at $38,000. Finally, TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cognex during the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Stock Down 0.1%

NASDAQ:CGNX opened at $36.61 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $39.68 and a 200 day moving average of $39.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.20 and a beta of 1.53. Cognex has a 52 week low of $22.67 and a 52 week high of $49.76.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $264.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $261.86 million. Cognex had a return on equity of 8.26% and a net margin of 11.33%.Cognex’s quarterly revenue was up 18.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.20 earnings per share. Cognex has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 0.190-0.24 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Cognex will post 0.61 EPS for the current year.

Cognex Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 13th were issued a $0.085 dividend. This represents a $0.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 13th. This is a positive change from Cognex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is 53.13%.

About Cognex

Cognex Corporation is a leading provider of machine vision systems, software, sensors and industrial barcode readers used to automate manufacturing, logistics and distribution processes. The company designs and develops vision-based products that help manufacturers and logistics operators inspect, identify and guide parts, assemblies and packaged goods in real time. Its solutions are applied in a broad range of industries, including automotive, electronics, semiconductor, pharmaceutical, food and beverage, and general manufacturing.

The company’s product portfolio includes stand-alone vision systems, vision sensors and deep learning-based software platforms that enable automated inspection, quality control and traceability.