Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) Hits New 12-Month High – What’s Next?

Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $61.40 and last traded at $61.3680, with a volume of 430163 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $58.83.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. DA Davidson set a $55.00 target price on shares of Cognex and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Cognex from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $63.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a report on Friday, February 13th. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective (up from $50.00) on shares of Cognex in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Cognex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, April 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $59.50.

Cognex Price Performance

The stock’s fifty day moving average is $52.39 and its 200-day moving average is $44.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.34 billion, a PE ratio of 92.61 and a beta of 1.48.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $252.34 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $238.92 million. Cognex had a net margin of 11.51% and a return on equity of 9.02%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.16 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Cognex Corporation will post 0.97 EPS for the current year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 26th were given a dividend of $0.085 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 26th. This represents a $0.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.75%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Angelos Papadimitriou sold 4,150 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.58, for a total value of $230,657.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 16,222 shares in the company, valued at $901,618.76. This represents a 20.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Laura Ann Macdonald sold 14,881 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.16, for a total transaction of $850,597.96. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 2,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $126,437.92. This trade represents a 87.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 196,083 shares of company stock worth $11,419,321. Company insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cognex

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Quent Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cognex in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. REAP Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cognex in the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Cognex by 402.2% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 919 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 736 shares during the period. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cognex by 74.8% in the third quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 764 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 327 shares during the period. Finally, First Horizon Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Cognex in the third quarter valued at about $38,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Company Profile

Cognex Corporation is a leading provider of machine vision systems, software, sensors and industrial barcode readers used to automate manufacturing, logistics and distribution processes. The company designs and develops vision-based products that help manufacturers and logistics operators inspect, identify and guide parts, assemblies and packaged goods in real time. Its solutions are applied in a broad range of industries, including automotive, electronics, semiconductor, pharmaceutical, food and beverage, and general manufacturing.

The company’s product portfolio includes stand-alone vision systems, vision sensors and deep learning-based software platforms that enable automated inspection, quality control and traceability.