Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) Price Target Raised to $41.00

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX - Free Report) had its target price lifted by The Goldman Sachs Group from $36.00 to $41.00 in a report released on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a sell rating on the scientific and technical instruments company's stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Stephens lifted their price objective on Cognex from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Friday. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on Cognex from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Friday. StockNews.com lowered Cognex from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report on Monday, February 19th. Truist Financial assumed coverage on Cognex in a report on Thursday, March 14th. They issued a buy rating and a $47.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on Cognex from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Cognex has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $48.67.

Cognex Price Performance

Shares of CGNX stock traded up $0.70 on Monday, reaching $44.49. 1,065,291 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,466,318. The stock has a market cap of $7.64 billion, a PE ratio of 76.71 and a beta of 1.48. Cognex has a one year low of $34.28 and a one year high of $59.51. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $40.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.96.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.04. Cognex had a return on equity of 6.81% and a net margin of 11.76%. The company had revenue of $196.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $189.16 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.27 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 17.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Cognex will post 0.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. Cognex's dividend payout ratio is 51.72%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cognex

In other news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,782 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.30% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cognex

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CGNX. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Cognex in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $58,641,000. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Cognex by 156.5% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,065,693 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $86,862,000 after purchasing an additional 1,260,282 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Cognex by 17.8% in the third quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 5,536,355 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $234,962,000 after purchasing an additional 837,487 shares in the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc lifted its position in Cognex by 16.0% during the third quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,811,495 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $119,320,000 after purchasing an additional 387,860 shares during the period. Finally, Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC grew its stake in Cognex by 24.7% during the first quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC now owns 1,576,558 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $66,878,000 after buying an additional 312,098 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.12% of the company's stock.

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.