Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Hold”

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Saturday.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on CGNX. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Cognex from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 16th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Cognex in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Cognex from $50.00 to $68.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Cognex from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Cognex in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $57.00.

Cognex Stock Down 0.9%

Cognex stock opened at $53.41 on Friday. Cognex has a 12-month low of $22.84 and a 12-month high of $59.88. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $50.64 and its 200 day moving average is $43.96. The company has a market capitalization of $8.92 billion, a PE ratio of 79.72 and a beta of 1.47.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.05. Cognex had a net margin of 11.51% and a return on equity of 9.02%. The company had revenue of $252.34 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $238.92 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.16 EPS. Cognex’s quarterly revenue was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Cognex will post 0.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 26th were issued a $0.085 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 26th. This represents a $0.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.75%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Robert Willett sold 177,052 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.39, for a total value of $10,338,066.28. 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 approximately $126,437.92. This represents a 87.06% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 196,083 shares of company stock worth $11,419,321 over the last quarter. Insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cognex

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Cognex by 2.1% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,598,728 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $842,522,000 after buying an additional 374,999 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its position in Cognex by 173,138.2% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 10,477,448 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $376,979,000 after buying an additional 10,471,400 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in Cognex by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,101,583 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $292,224,000 after buying an additional 76,212 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA grew its position in Cognex by 27.9% during the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 7,013,184 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $252,360,000 after buying an additional 1,529,010 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Cognex by 31.0% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,314,896 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $191,231,000 after buying an additional 1,258,629 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

About Cognex

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.