Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) PT Raised to $45.00

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) had its target price increased by Stephens from $40.00 to $45.00 in a report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “equal weight” rating on the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock. Stephens’ price objective suggests a potential upside of 2.76% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on CGNX. Citigroup boosted their price target on Cognex from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. UBS Group raised shares of Cognex from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $42.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, February 19th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on shares of Cognex from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Cognex from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Cognex presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $48.58.

Cognex Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of CGNX stock traded up $0.43 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $43.79. 1,411,680 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 906,843. The stock has a market cap of $7.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 75.50 and a beta of 1.48. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $38.89. Cognex has a fifty-two week low of $34.28 and a fifty-two week high of $59.51.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $196.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $189.16 million. Cognex had a net margin of 11.76% and a return on equity of 6.81%. The company’s revenue was down 17.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.27 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Cognex will post 0.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cognex

In other news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,782 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total value of $274,942.28. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Cognex by 0.6% during the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 71,112 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $3,018,000 after purchasing an additional 459 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its stake in Cognex by 92.2% during the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 28,993 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,230,000 after acquiring an additional 13,906 shares during the period. Xponance Inc. lifted its holdings in Cognex by 8.5% in the third quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 22,957 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $974,000 after acquiring an additional 1,800 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in Cognex by 4.7% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 252,116 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $10,700,000 after acquiring an additional 11,400 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Cognex by 8.3% during the third quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 171,477 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $7,278,000 after purchasing an additional 13,213 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Company Profile

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.