Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) Given New $50.00 Price Target at Truist Financial

Key Points

• Truist Financial cut its price target on Cognex to $50 (from $52) and left a "hold" rating, implying about a 9.9% downside from the stock's current price.
• Cognex beat expectations for the quarter with EPS of $0.27 (vs. $0.22 expected) and revenue of $252.34M (vs. $238.92M), a 9.9% year-over-year revenue increase.
• Insider selling has been notable — Director Robert Willett sold 177,052 shares and insiders sold ~196,083 shares (~$11.42M) over the last 90 days, even as institutional investors own about 88.1% of the stock.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX - Get Free Report) had its target price lowered by stock analysts at Truist Financial from $52.00 to $50.00 in a research note issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a "hold" rating on the scientific and technical instruments company's stock. Truist Financial's price objective points to a potential downside of 9.91% from the company's current price.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the company. DA Davidson set a $55.00 target price on Cognex and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on Cognex from $47.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Robert W. Baird set a $55.00 target price on Cognex in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. UBS Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, KeyCorp restated an "overweight" rating and set a $70.00 price objective (up from $50.00) on shares of Cognex in a research report on Friday, February 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $57.62.

Cognex Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CGNX opened at $55.50 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $52.07 and a 200-day moving average price of $44.28. The company has a market cap of $9.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 82.84 and a beta of 1.47. Cognex has a fifty-two week low of $22.85 and a fifty-two week high of $59.88.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $252.34 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $238.92 million. Cognex had a return on equity of 9.02% and a net margin of 11.51%.The company's revenue was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.16 EPS. Research analysts predict that Cognex will post 0.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cognex news, Director Robert Willett sold 177,052 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.39, for a total value of $10,338,066.28. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Angelos Papadimitriou sold 4,150 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.58, for a total value of $230,657.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 16,222 shares in the company, valued at approximately $901,618.76. The trade was a 20.37% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 196,083 shares of company stock valued at $11,419,321 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.70% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 2.1% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,598,728 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $842,522,000 after purchasing an additional 374,999 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 10,471,400 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,101,583 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $292,224,000 after purchasing an additional 76,212 shares in the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 27.9% in the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 7,013,184 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $252,360,000 after purchasing an additional 1,529,010 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 31.0% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,314,896 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $191,231,000 after purchasing an additional 1,258,629 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.12% of the company's stock.

About Cognex

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.

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