Analysts Set Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) PT at $49.15

Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) has been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the fourteen ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $49.15.

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on Cognex from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Stephens increased their price objective on shares of Cognex from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. 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 research note on Friday, May 3rd. Citigroup increased their price target on Cognex from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Cognex from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $42.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cognex

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of CGNX. United Services Automobile Association increased its holdings in shares of Cognex by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. United Services Automobile Association now owns 11,682 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $496,000 after buying an additional 279 shares during the last quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV raised its position in Cognex by 94.4% during the first quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 589 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 286 shares during the period. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Cognex by 4.8% in the 1st quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. now owns 6,279 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $266,000 after purchasing an additional 287 shares during the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its position in shares of Cognex by 11.9% during the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,760 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $115,000 after purchasing an additional 294 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina raised its holdings in Cognex by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 78,043 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $3,312,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CGNX opened at $46.76 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.03 billion, a PE ratio of 80.62 and a beta of 1.45. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $45.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.56. Cognex has a twelve month low of $34.28 and a twelve month high of $59.51.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.05 earnings per share for the quarter. The business had revenue of $210.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $198.14 million. Cognex had a net margin of 11.76% and a return on equity of 6.81%. Analysts expect that Cognex will post 0.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th were given a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.64%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.72%.

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.