Cognex’s (CGNX) Overweight Rating Reaffirmed at Stephens

Stephens reissued their overweight rating on shares of Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) in a research note released on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. Stephens currently has a $55.00 target price on the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock.

CGNX has been the topic of a number of other reports. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Cognex to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on Cognex from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Truist Financial restated a “hold” rating and set a $37.00 price target (down from $43.00) on shares of Cognex in a research report on Friday, February 14th. HSBC lowered Cognex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $33.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on Cognex from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $44.83.

Cognex Trading Up 4.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ CGNX opened at $31.51 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $5.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 51.66 and a beta of 1.43. Cognex has a 1-year low of $30.04 and a 1-year high of $53.13. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $36.18 and its 200 day moving average is $38.05.

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

Cognex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 1.02%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.46%.

Insider Transactions at Cognex

In other news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 4,566 shares in the company, valued at $149,445.18. This trade represents a 59.84 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Cognex by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,479,828 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $662,687,000 after buying an additional 296,251 shares during the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Cognex by 27.3% during the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 5,840,117 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $209,427,000 after buying an additional 1,253,996 shares during the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc raised its stake in Cognex by 2.6% during the third quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 5,230,271 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $211,303,000 after buying an additional 131,560 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Cognex by 0.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,190,365 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $210,210,000 after purchasing an additional 42,882 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised 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 worth $136,999,000 after purchasing an additional 461,724 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.12% 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.