Cognex Co. (CGNX) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.08 on November 29th

Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, October 30th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th will be given a dividend of 0.08 per share by the scientific and technical instruments company on Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 14th. This is a positive change from Cognex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08.

Cognex has raised its dividend payment by an average of 8.2% per year over the last three years. Cognex has a dividend payout ratio of 33.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Cognex to earn $0.66 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.32 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 48.5%.

Cognex Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CGNX opened at $42.86 on Tuesday. Cognex has a 52-week low of $34.79 and a 52-week high of $53.13. The company has a market cap of $7.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 82.42 and a beta of 1.40. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $39.62 and its 200-day moving average is $43.06.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on CGNX shares. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Cognex from $46.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 5th. DA Davidson dropped their price target on shares of Cognex from $41.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on Cognex from $45.00 to $39.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Stephens raised Cognex from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $45.00 to $55.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC decreased their price target on Cognex from $50.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $47.91.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cognex

In related news, CFO Dennis Fehr purchased 6,570 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $38.04 per share, for a total transaction of $249,922.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 6,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $249,922.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

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.