UBS Group Boosts Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) Price Target to $58.00

Key Points

• UBS Group has increased its price target for Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) from $53.00 to $58.00, indicating a potential upside of 43.89% from the stock's previous close.
• Recently, other firms including Needham & Company and Citigroup have also revised their ratings and price objectives, contributing to a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with an average target price of $42.08.
• Cognex reported a $0.25 EPS for the last quarter, surpassing estimates, with a revenue increase of 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX - Get Free Report) had its target price lifted by UBS Group from $53.00 to $58.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a "buy" rating on the scientific and technical instruments company's stock. UBS Group's price objective would indicate a potential upside of 39.03% from the company's current price.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on CGNX. TD Cowen raised shares of Cognex from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $35.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Cognex from $37.00 to $29.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Melius raised shares of Cognex from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $60.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Citigroup reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $37.00 price target (up previously from $30.00) on shares of Cognex in a report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Cognex from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, June 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $42.31.

Cognex Trading Up 0.7%

NASDAQ CGNX traded up $0.29 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $41.72. The company's stock had a trading volume of 800,789 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,097,880. Cognex has a 52 week low of $22.67 and a 52 week high of $44.17. The company has a market capitalization of $7.00 billion, a PE ratio of 58.64 and a beta of 1.47. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $32.48 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $31.76.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.02. Cognex had a net margin of 13.13% and a return on equity of 6.65%. The business had revenue of $249.09 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $246.70 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.23 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Cognex will post 0.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cognex

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CGNX. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of Cognex by 148.5% during the second quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,075,772 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $223,594,000 after acquiring an additional 4,228,729 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its position in shares of Cognex by 126.2% in the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 4,609,802 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $137,510,000 after buying an additional 2,571,457 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Cognex by 32.0% in the first quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,082,319 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $181,436,000 after buying an additional 1,474,832 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Cognex in the fourth quarter worth $46,299,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in shares of Cognex by 16,472.8% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 819,028 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $24,432,000 after buying an additional 814,086 shares in 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.