Truist Financial Cuts Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) Price Target to $42.00

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

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Stephens raised Cognex from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $45.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Needham & Company LLC decreased their target price on shares of Cognex from $50.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $47.92.

Cognex Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CGNX opened at $35.77 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $39.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.72. Cognex has a 1 year low of $34.79 and a 1 year high of $53.13. The firm has a market cap of $6.14 billion, a PE ratio of 68.79 and a beta of 1.39.

Cognex Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. This is a boost from Cognex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is 61.54%.

Insider Activity

In other Cognex news, Director Anthony Sun sold 26,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.03, for a total transaction of $1,040,780.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 26,608 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,065,118.24. The trade was a 49.42 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CTO Joerg Kuechen sold 2,934 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.75, for a total transaction of $110,758.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cognex

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Riverview Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of Cognex during the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in 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 valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 394 shares in the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC purchased a new position in Cognex during the 3rd quarter worth $36,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in shares of Cognex in the 3rd quarter worth $40,000. Finally, Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Cognex in the second quarter valued at about $55,000. 88.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.