Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) Price Target Raised to $35.00 at DA Davidson

Key Points

• DA Davidson raised its price target for Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) from $32.00 to $35.00, maintaining a "neutral" rating, indicating a potential downside of 14.86% from the stock's previous close.
• Cognex recently reported a quarterly earnings per share of $0.25, beating analysts' expectations of $0.23, with revenue for the quarter up 4.2% year-over-year.
• The stock has seen significant interest from institutional investors, with 88.12% of the shares currently owned by them, reflecting strong confidence in the company.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX - Get Free Report) had its price objective lifted by equities researchers at DA Davidson from $32.00 to $35.00 in a report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a "neutral" rating on the scientific and technical instruments company's stock. DA Davidson's price objective would indicate a potential downside of 14.86% from the stock's previous close.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on CGNX. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Cognex from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Melius raised Cognex from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $60.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Cognex from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 12th. Citigroup reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $37.00 price objective (up previously from $30.00) on shares of Cognex in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, KeyCorp raised Cognex from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $50.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $42.31.

Cognex Stock Up 1.6%

Shares of NASDAQ:CGNX traded up $0.64 on Monday, reaching $41.11. The company had a trading volume of 1,016,300 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,097,356. Cognex has a twelve month low of $22.67 and a twelve month high of $44.17. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $32.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $31.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.87 and a beta of 1.47.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.02. Cognex had a return on equity of 6.65% and a net margin of 13.13%. The company had revenue of $249.09 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $246.70 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.23 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Cognex will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cognex

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Cognex by 402.2% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 919 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 736 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Cognex by 439.4% in the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 971 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 791 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Cognex by 155.3% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,062 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 646 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its position in Cognex by 231.9% during the 2nd quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,082 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 756 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in Cognex by 105.5% during the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,280 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 657 shares during the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Cognex

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.

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