Shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX – Get Rating) have received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the fourteen analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have issued a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $73.55.
Several brokerages have recently weighed in on CGNX. Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Cognex from $95.00 to $75.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 10th. TheStreet downgraded shares of Cognex from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 24th. Raymond James dropped their price objective on shares of Cognex from $90.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 9th. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Cognex in a research report on Thursday, March 31st. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Cognex from $68.00 to $52.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 31st.
In related news, Director Dianne M. Parrotte purchased 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 12th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $46.00 per share, for a total transaction of $138,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 3,608 shares in the company, valued at approximately $165,968. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 4.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.
Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in Cognex by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 19,443,442 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,500,064,000 after buying an additional 229,114 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Cognex by 31.5% in the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 5,938,568 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $458,160,000 after buying an additional 1,422,175 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Cognex by 11.7% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,931,739 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $461,252,000 after acquiring an additional 619,196 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Cognex by 0.8% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,778,896 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $445,842,000 after acquiring an additional 45,764 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in Cognex by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,349,981 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $261,248,000 after purchasing an additional 85,293 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.85% of the company’s stock.
NASDAQ:CGNX opened at $42.97 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $55.05 and its 200-day moving average is $65.35. Cognex has a 1-year low of $41.69 and a 1-year high of $92.17. The stock has a market cap of $7.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.72 and a beta of 1.65.
Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX – Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 5th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.08. Cognex had a return on equity of 19.48% and a net margin of 25.67%. The firm had revenue of $282.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $277.23 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.39 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Cognex will post 1.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 20th were given a $0.065 dividend. This represents a $0.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.61%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 19th. Cognex’s payout ratio is 16.77%.
Cognex Company Profile (Get Rating)
Cognex Corporation provides machine vision products that capture and analyze visual information in order 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, aspirin bottles, and automobile tires by locating, identifying, inspecting, and measuring them during the manufacturing or distribution process.