Needham & Company LLC Cuts Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) Price Target to $41.00

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) had its price target cut by stock analysts at Needham & Company LLC from $47.00 to $41.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price target suggests a potential upside of 20.87% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Cognex to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Cognex from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their target price on Cognex from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. 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.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.42.

Cognex Price Performance

NASDAQ CGNX opened at $33.92 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $37.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $39.22. Cognex has a one year low of $32.50 and a one year high of $53.13. The firm has a market cap of $5.82 billion, a PE ratio of 65.23 and a beta of 1.40.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.15 by ($0.01). Cognex had a return on equity of 5.28% and a net margin of 10.10%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Cognex will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Anthony Sun sold 26,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 26,608 shares in the company, valued at $1,065,118.24. This represents a 49.42 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CTO Joerg Kuechen sold 2,934 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cognex

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Riverview Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Cognex in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Cognex by 123.1% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 714 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 394 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Cognex in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Cognex by 50.0% during the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 885 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 295 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Truvestments Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cognex during the third quarter worth $36,000. 88.12% of the stock is currently 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.