Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) Sets New 1-Year Low – Here’s What Happened

Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)’s stock price reached a new 52-week low during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $31.06 and last traded at $31.20, with a volume of 1196639 shares. The stock had previously closed at $32.17.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Cognex from $58.00 to $56.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. HSBC lowered Cognex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $33.00 target price for the company. in a report on Friday, February 21st. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Cognex in a report on Wednesday. Truist Financial reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $37.00 price objective (down from $43.00) on shares of Cognex in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Cognex to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $44.83.

Cognex Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $5.27 billion, a PE ratio of 50.84 and a beta of 1.43. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $36.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.21.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by ($0.01). Cognex had a return on equity of 5.65% and a net margin of 11.61%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Cognex Co. will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.03%. Cognex’s payout ratio is currently 52.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cognex

In other news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.73, for a total value of $222,662.19. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 4,566 shares in the company, valued at $149,445.18. This represents a 59.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CTO Joerg Kuechen sold 2,934 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.75, for a total transaction of $110,758.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cognex

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Cognex during the fourth quarter worth about $79,797,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its position in Cognex by 122.7% during the third quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,834,755 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $114,808,000 after buying an additional 1,562,115 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Cognex in the fourth quarter worth about $46,299,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cognex by 27.3% during the 4th quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 5,840,117 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $209,427,000 after acquiring an additional 1,253,996 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in shares of Cognex by 903.9% during the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 731,232 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $26,222,000 after acquiring an additional 658,394 shares during the period. 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.