Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) has earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the thirteen brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have given a hold recommendation, five have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $44.83.

CGNX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price objective on shares of Cognex from $47.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. HSBC cut shares of Cognex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $33.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded Cognex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on Cognex from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 13th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cognex

In other Cognex news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.73, for a total value of $222,662.19. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 4,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $149,445.18. The trade was a 59.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cognex

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CGNX. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Cognex by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,479,828 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $662,687,000 after acquiring an additional 296,251 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Cognex by 27.3% during the 4th quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 5,840,117 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $209,427,000 after purchasing an additional 1,253,996 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Cognex by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,190,365 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $210,210,000 after purchasing an additional 42,882 shares in the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its stake in shares of Cognex by 13.7% in the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 3,820,394 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $136,999,000 after purchasing an additional 461,724 shares during the period. Finally, Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN boosted its holdings in Cognex by 8.9% during the third quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 3,751,807 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $151,948,000 after buying an additional 305,913 shares in the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cognex Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of CGNX stock opened at $29.83 on Tuesday. Cognex has a 12 month low of $29.39 and a 12 month high of $53.13. The company has a market cap of $5.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.90 and a beta of 1.43. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $34.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.44.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.15 by ($0.01). Cognex had a return on equity of 5.65% and a net margin of 11.61%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Cognex will post 0.61 EPS for the current year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th were given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.07%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 52.46%.

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.