Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) Stock Price Up 7.6%

Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)’s stock price traded up 7.6% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $44.05 and last traded at $44.05. 213,741 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 85% from the average session volume of 1,451,534 shares. The stock had previously closed at $40.94.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on CGNX shares. UBS Group raised Cognex from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $42.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. StockNews.com lowered Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, February 19th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Cognex from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Truist Financial started coverage on shares of Cognex in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $47.00 price objective on the stock. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $47.70.

Cognex Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $7.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 65.79 and a beta of 1.48. The business’s fifty day moving average is $40.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.83.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $196.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $189.16 million. Cognex had a return on equity of 6.86% and a net margin of 13.52%. Cognex’s revenue was down 17.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.27 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Cognex Co. will post 0.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 29th were paid a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 28th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.69%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 45.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,782 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total value of $274,942.28. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. United Services Automobile Association lifted its position in Cognex by 2.4% during the third quarter. United Services Automobile Association now owns 11,682 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $496,000 after acquiring an additional 279 shares during the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV lifted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 94.4% during the first quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 589 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 286 shares during the period. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. lifted its stake in Cognex by 4.8% during the 1st quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. now owns 6,279 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $266,000 after acquiring an additional 287 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its holdings in Cognex by 11.9% in the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,760 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $115,000 after purchasing an additional 294 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina boosted its holdings in Cognex by 0.4% in the third quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 78,043 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $3,312,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

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.