Cantor Fitzgerald Weighs in on Cognex FY2024 Earnings

Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) – Equities research analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald issued their FY2024 earnings estimates for shares of Cognex in a report issued on Thursday, December 19th. Cantor Fitzgerald analyst T. Jensen expects that the scientific and technical instruments company will post earnings per share of $0.38 for the year. Cantor Fitzgerald currently has a “Strong-Buy” rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for Cognex’s current full-year earnings is $0.39 per share.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on the company. Truist Financial reduced their target price on Cognex from $43.00 to $42.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Stephens upgraded 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 lowered their target price on Cognex from $50.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.92.

Cognex Stock Up 1.5 %

NASDAQ:CGNX opened at $36.69 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $39.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.29 billion, a PE ratio of 70.56 and a beta of 1.39. Cognex has a 12-month low of $34.79 and a 12-month high of $53.13.

Cognex Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This is a boost from Cognex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. Cognex’s payout ratio is currently 61.54%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Anthony Sun sold 26,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.03, for a total value of $1,040,780.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 26,608 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,065,118.24. This represents a 49.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CTO Joerg Kuechen sold 2,934 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.75, for a total value of $110,758.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cognex

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Riverview Trust Co acquired a new position in Cognex during the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Cognex by 123.1% in the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 714 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 394 shares during the period. Truvestments Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cognex in the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in Cognex during the 3rd quarter worth $40,000. Finally, Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in Cognex during the second quarter worth about $55,000. 88.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.