Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) Raised to “Buy” at Wall Street Zen

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) was upgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday.

CGNX has been the topic of a number of other reports. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a research report on Friday, February 13th. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Cognex in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $70.00 price objective (up from $50.00) on shares of Cognex in a report on Friday, February 13th. Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Cognex in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Cognex in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $55.21.

Cognex Stock Down 1.7%

Shares of NASDAQ:CGNX opened at $54.40 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $9.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 81.20 and a beta of 1.45. Cognex has a 12 month low of $22.67 and a 12 month high of $59.88. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $43.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $42.65.

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

Insider Activity at Cognex

In related news, Director Robert Willett sold 177,052 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.39, for a total transaction of $10,338,066.28. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Laura Ann Macdonald sold 14,881 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 12th. The shares were 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 directly owned 2,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $126,437.92. The trade was a 87.06% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 196,083 shares of company stock worth $11,419,321 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cognex

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CGNX. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its stake in Cognex by 173,138.2% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 10,477,448 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $376,979,000 after acquiring an additional 10,471,400 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Cognex during the 4th quarter valued at about $73,103,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Cognex in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $68,388,000. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Cognex by 18,810.9% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,794,649 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $56,657,000 after purchasing an additional 1,785,159 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its holdings in Cognex by 27.9% during the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 7,013,184 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $252,360,000 after buying an additional 1,529,010 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

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.