Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) Upgraded to “Strong-Buy” at Zacks Research

Zacks Research upgraded shares of Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

CGNX has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Robert W. Baird set a $55.00 target price on shares of Cognex in a research report on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Cognex from $50.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. DA Davidson set a $55.00 price target on shares of Cognex and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Truist Financial cut their price target on Cognex from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Cognex in a report on Monday, December 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $53.73.

Cognex Trading Down 0.3%

CGNX stock traded down $0.18 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $55.76. The stock had a trading volume of 853,621 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,226,742. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $40.98 and a 200 day simple moving average of $42.03. Cognex has a 52 week low of $22.67 and a 52 week high of $59.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 83.35 and a beta of 1.53.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.05. Cognex had a net margin of 11.51% and a return on equity of 9.02%. The business had revenue of $252.34 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $238.92 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.16 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Cognex will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 26th will be given a dividend of $0.085 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 26th. This represents a $0.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cognex

In related news, VP Laura Ann Macdonald sold 14,881 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.16, for a total transaction of $850,597.96. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 2,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $126,437.92. This trade represents a 87.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert Willett sold 177,052 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.39, for a total transaction of $10,338,066.28. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 1.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cognex

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CGNX. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Cognex by 9.6% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 401,487 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $14,446,000 after purchasing an additional 35,230 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in Cognex by 77.3% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 57,009 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $2,058,000 after buying an additional 24,854 shares in the last quarter. Front Street Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Cognex by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Front Street Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,309,295 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $47,108,000 after purchasing an additional 14,306 shares in the last quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. lifted its stake in Cognex by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 21,824 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $785,000 after acquiring an additional 426 shares during the period. Finally, State of Tennessee Department of Treasury grew its position in shares of Cognex by 33.6% during the 4th quarter. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury now owns 74,840 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $2,899,000 after acquiring an additional 18,820 shares during the period. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cognex Company Profile

Cognex Corporation is a leading provider of machine vision systems, software, sensors and industrial barcode readers used to automate manufacturing, logistics and distribution processes. The company designs and develops vision-based products that help manufacturers and logistics operators inspect, identify and guide parts, assemblies and packaged goods in real time. Its solutions are applied in a broad range of industries, including automotive, electronics, semiconductor, pharmaceutical, food and beverage, and general manufacturing.

The company’s product portfolio includes stand-alone vision systems, vision sensors and deep learning-based software platforms that enable automated inspection, quality control and traceability.