The Goldman Sachs Group Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) Stock Price

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX - Get Free Report) had its target price cut by equities researchers at The Goldman Sachs Group from $39.00 to $35.00 in a research note issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a "sell" rating on the scientific and technical instruments company's stock. The Goldman Sachs Group's price target indicates a potential upside of 6.71% from the company's current price.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on CGNX. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Cognex from $58.00 to $56.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Cognex to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Stephens reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Cognex in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Cognex from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on shares of Cognex from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $44.83.

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Cognex Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CGNX traded down $0.60 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $32.80. 1,669,656 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,517,452. The company has a market cap of $5.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.77 and a beta of 1.40. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $37.35 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $38.75. Cognex has a twelve month low of $32.35 and a twelve month high of $53.13.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.15 by ($0.01). Cognex had a return on equity of 5.65% and a net margin of 11.61%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Cognex will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CTO Joerg Kuechen sold 2,934 shares of Cognex 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cognex

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Cognex by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,479,828 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $662,687,000 after purchasing an additional 296,251 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Cognex by 27.3% during the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 5,840,117 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $209,427,000 after purchasing an additional 1,253,996 shares in the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc boosted its position in shares of Cognex by 2.6% during the third quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 5,230,271 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $211,303,000 after purchasing an additional 131,560 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Cognex by 0.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,190,365 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $210,210,000 after purchasing an additional 42,882 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA boosted its position in shares of Cognex by 13.7% during the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 3,820,394 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $136,999,000 after purchasing an additional 461,724 shares in the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is 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.