Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) Given Hold Rating at Truist Financial

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX)‘s stock had its “hold” rating reaffirmed by investment analysts at Truist Financial in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $37.00 target price on the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, down from their previous target price of $43.00. Truist Financial’s price target points to a potential upside of 13.68% from the stock’s previous close.

CGNX has been the topic of several other research reports. Needham & Company LLC reduced their target price on shares of Cognex from $47.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Citigroup lowered their target price on Cognex from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Cognex to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Cognex currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.92.

Cognex Price Performance

NASDAQ:CGNX traded down $1.37 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $32.55. 658,660 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,281,399. The firm has a market cap of $5.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.56 and a beta of 1.40. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $37.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $39.22. Cognex has a 52-week low of $32.50 and a 52-week high of $53.13.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by ($0.01). Cognex had a net margin of 10.10% and a return on equity of 5.28%. On average, analysts predict that Cognex will post 0.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Anthony Sun sold 26,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,065,118.24. This represents a 49.42 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Joerg Kuechen sold 2,934 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was 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 Investors Weigh In On Cognex

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CGNX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Cognex by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,784,239 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $72,262,000 after acquiring an additional 87,790 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cognex in the third quarter worth $790,000. Premier Fund Managers Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Cognex by 255.1% during the third quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 24,854 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,001,000 after acquiring an additional 17,854 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its stake in Cognex by 5.9% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,386,973 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $56,172,000 after purchasing an additional 77,146 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ceredex Value Advisors LLC increased its position 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 purchasing an additional 423,950 shares during the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.