Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) Upgraded to Neutral at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) from an underweight rating to a neutral rating in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning, MarketBeat reports. They currently have $55.00 price objective on the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock.

CGNX has been the topic of several other reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Cognex from $50.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Cognex in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. DA Davidson set a $55.00 price target on Cognex and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $70.00 price objective (up from $50.00) on shares of Cognex in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $63.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cognex currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $56.64.

Cognex Stock Up 2.8%

CGNX opened at $50.82 on Monday. Cognex has a 52 week low of $22.67 and a 52 week high of $59.88. The business’s 50 day moving average is $45.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $43.03. The firm has a market cap of $8.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 75.85 and a beta of 1.45.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $252.34 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $238.92 million. Cognex had a return on equity of 9.02% and a net margin of 11.51%.The company’s revenue was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.16 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Cognex will post 0.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 26th will be given a $0.085 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 26th. This represents a $0.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 50.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Angelos Papadimitriou sold 4,150 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.58, for a total value of $230,657.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 16,222 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $901,618.76. This represents a 20.37% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction, the vice president owned 2,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $126,437.92. This trade represents a 87.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 196,083 shares of company stock worth $11,419,321 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cognex

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Cognex by 13.3% in the third quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 318,984 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $14,450,000 after buying an additional 37,405 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in Cognex by 13.4% during the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,025,371 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $361,382,000 after acquiring an additional 949,599 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in Cognex by 43.9% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,024,355 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $137,003,000 after acquiring an additional 922,149 shares during the period. IMC Chicago LLC acquired a new stake in Cognex in the third quarter valued at approximately $5,761,000. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its stake in shares of Cognex by 203.2% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 266,954 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $12,093,000 after purchasing an additional 178,911 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Company Profile

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.