Brokerages Set Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) PT at $44.83

Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) has earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the thirteen research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have issued a hold recommendation, five have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $44.83.

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on CGNX shares. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Cognex in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Hsbc Global Res lowered Cognex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Cognex to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Citigroup reduced their target price on Cognex from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lowered their price target on Cognex from $47.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 14th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cognex news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.73, for a total transaction of $222,662.19. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 4,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $149,445.18. This trade represents a 59.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cognex

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Cognex by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,784,239 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $72,262,000 after purchasing an additional 87,790 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Cognex by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,427,756 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $51,199,000 after buying an additional 42,292 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Cognex during the third quarter valued at $790,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Cognex by 75.1% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,870 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $102,000 after buying an additional 1,231 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TCW Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Cognex by 19.8% in the third quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 583,150 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $23,618,000 after acquiring an additional 96,330 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CGNX opened at $30.74 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.21 billion, a PE ratio of 50.39 and a beta of 1.43. Cognex has a 12-month low of $30.04 and a 12-month high of $53.13. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $35.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.56.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last posted its earnings results 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 net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 5.65%. Research analysts predict that Cognex will post 0.61 EPS for the current year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th were issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.04%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.46%.

Cognex Company Profile

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.