Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) was downgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Saturday.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on shares of Cognex from $47.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Cognex in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of Cognex in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $63.00 target price on shares of Cognex in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Cognex in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $57.00.

Cognex Stock Down 0.9%

CGNX stock opened at $53.41 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $8.92 billion, a PE ratio of 79.72 and a beta of 1.47. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $50.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.97. Cognex has a fifty-two week low of $22.84 and a fifty-two week high of $59.88.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $252.34 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $238.92 million. Cognex had a net margin of 11.51% and a return on equity of 9.02%. Cognex’s quarterly revenue was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.16 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Cognex will post 0.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Laura Ann Macdonald sold 14,881 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.16, for a total transaction of $850,597.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 2,212 shares in the company, valued at approximately $126,437.92. This trade represents a 87.06% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Robert Willett sold 177,052 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.39, for a total transaction of $10,338,066.28. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 196,083 shares of company stock worth $11,419,321. Corporate insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its position in shares of Cognex by 210.3% in the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 58,932 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $2,127,000 after purchasing an additional 39,937 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Cognex by 76.2% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 56,645 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $2,045,000 after purchasing an additional 24,490 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Cognex by 18.2% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 26,562 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $956,000 after purchasing an additional 4,084 shares in the last quarter. Kera Capital Partners Inc. lifted its position in shares of Cognex by 118.7% in the fourth quarter. Kera Capital Partners Inc. now owns 12,353 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $479,000 after purchasing an additional 6,704 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in Cognex during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $379,000. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.