Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the thirteen brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have issued a hold recommendation, five have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $42.83.

CGNX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. HSBC cut shares of Cognex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $33.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Friday, February 21st. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Cognex from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Cognex from $37.00 to $29.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Citigroup dropped their target price on Cognex from $37.00 to $26.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Cognex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.73, for a total transaction of $222,662.19. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 4,566 shares in the company, valued at $149,445.18. This represents a 59.84 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CGNX. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in Cognex by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 7,836 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $281,000 after purchasing an additional 262 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of Cognex by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 5,616 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $201,000 after buying an additional 270 shares in the last quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Cognex by 50.0% during the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 885 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 295 shares in the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 30.8% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 1,346 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 317 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System grew its position in Cognex by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 49,749 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,784,000 after acquiring an additional 320 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Stock Up 0.9 %

CGNX opened at $23.77 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $4.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.97 and a beta of 1.56. Cognex has a 12-month low of $22.67 and a 12-month high of $53.13. The business has a 50 day moving average of $30.04 and a 200-day moving average of $35.90.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.14 EPS 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, analysts expect that Cognex will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 27th were issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 27th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.46%.

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.