Cognex’s (CGNX) “Overweight” Rating Reiterated at Stephens

Stephens reiterated their overweight rating on shares of Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) in a research report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $55.00 price objective on the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock.

CGNX has been the topic of several other reports. Truist Financial dropped their price target on Cognex from $43.00 to $42.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Cognex to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC dropped their target price on shares of Cognex from $50.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Cognex currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $47.92.

Cognex Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CGNX opened at $36.25 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $38.83 and its 200-day moving average is $41.16. Cognex has a 52 week low of $34.79 and a 52 week high of $53.13. The firm has a market cap of $6.22 billion, a PE ratio of 69.71 and a beta of 1.40.

Cognex Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. This is a positive change from Cognex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 61.54%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Anthony Sun sold 26,000 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.03, for a total transaction of $1,040,780.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 26,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,065,118.24. The trade was a 49.42 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CTO Joerg Kuechen sold 2,934 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.75, for a total value of $110,758.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cognex

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in Cognex by 43.2% in the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,704 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $80,000 after purchasing an additional 514 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in Cognex by 10.0% during the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 71,368 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $3,337,000 after buying an additional 6,513 shares in the last quarter. Roubaix Capital LLC raised its stake in Cognex by 18.1% during the second quarter. Roubaix Capital LLC now owns 77,972 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $3,646,000 after buying an additional 11,973 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its holdings in Cognex by 1.7% in the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 48,102 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $2,249,000 after acquiring an additional 793 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Impax Asset Management Group plc grew its stake in shares of Cognex by 32.8% in the second quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 5,098,711 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $237,812,000 after acquiring an additional 1,259,116 shares during the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.