Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) Price Target Raised to $43.00

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) had its target price boosted by Truist Financial from $42.00 to $43.00 in a report published on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a hold rating on the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on CGNX. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Cognex in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Cognex to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Citigroup cut their price target on Cognex from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC decreased their price objective on Cognex from $50.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $47.92.

Cognex Price Performance

CGNX stock opened at $39.73 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $38.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $40.50. Cognex has a fifty-two week low of $34.79 and a fifty-two week high of $53.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 76.41 and a beta of 1.40.

Cognex Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This is a positive change from Cognex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.81%. Cognex’s payout ratio is 61.54%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Anthony Sun sold 26,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.03, for a total value of $1,040,780.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 26,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,065,118.24. This represents a 49.42 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CTO Joerg Kuechen sold 2,934 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.75, for a total value of $110,758.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Riverview Trust Co bought a new position in Cognex during the third quarter worth $25,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Cognex by 123.1% during the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 714 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 394 shares during the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cognex during the 3rd quarter worth about $36,000. Clean Yield Group grew its stake in Cognex by 1,686.7% in the 4th quarter. Clean Yield Group now owns 1,072 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 1,012 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in Cognex in the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,000. 88.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.