Stephens Reiterates Overweight Rating for Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Stephens reaffirmed their overweight rating on shares of Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Stephens currently has a $55.00 target price on the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Cognex to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Needham & Company LLC decreased their target price on Cognex from $50.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price target on Cognex from $43.00 to $42.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $47.92.

Cognex Stock Performance

CGNX stock opened at $36.25 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $38.83 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.16. Cognex has a one year low of $34.79 and a one year high of $53.13. The company has a market capitalization of $6.22 billion, a PE ratio of 69.71 and a beta of 1.40.

Cognex Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 boost from Cognex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.88%. 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 26,608 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,065,118.24. This represents a 49.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CTO Joerg Kuechen sold 2,934 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction dated 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. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cognex

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in Cognex by 122.7% during the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,834,755 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $114,808,000 after purchasing an additional 1,562,115 shares in the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc increased its position in shares of Cognex by 32.8% in the 2nd quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 5,098,711 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $237,812,000 after acquiring an additional 1,259,116 shares during the period. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC raised its stake in Cognex by 116.0% in the 3rd quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 789,550 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $31,977,000 after acquiring an additional 423,950 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Cognex by 33.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,621,629 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $75,828,000 after purchasing an additional 409,502 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of Cognex by 26.8% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,746,783 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $81,680,000 after purchasing an additional 369,442 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.