DA Davidson Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Cognex Earnings

Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX - Free Report) - Analysts at DA Davidson cut their FY2025 earnings estimates for Cognex in a research report issued on Wednesday, February 19th. DA Davidson analyst M. Summerville now expects that the scientific and technical instruments company will post earnings per share of $0.61 for the year, down from their prior forecast of $0.67. The consensus estimate for Cognex's current full-year earnings is $0.61 per share.

CGNX has been the subject of a number of other reports. Citigroup cut their price target on Cognex from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. HSBC cut shares of Cognex from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $33.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Cognex from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of Cognex from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Truist Financial reissued a "hold" rating and set a $37.00 target price (down from $43.00) on shares of Cognex in a research report on Friday, February 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $44.83.

Cognex Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CGNX traded down $0.03 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $32.81. 1,300,275 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,420,928. The company's 50-day moving average price is $37.25 and its 200-day moving average price is $38.72. Cognex has a 1-year low of $32.14 and a 1-year high of $53.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.79 and a beta of 1.40.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.15 by ($0.01). Cognex had a return on equity of 5.65% and a net margin of 11.61%.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.98%. Cognex's dividend payout ratio is currently 52.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cognex

In other news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.73, for a total value of $222,662.19. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 4,566 shares in the company, valued at approximately $149,445.18. The trade was a 59.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CTO Joerg Kuechen sold 2,934 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cognex

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Cognex by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,479,828 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $662,687,000 after buying an additional 296,251 shares during the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Cognex by 27.3% in 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 acquiring an additional 1,253,996 shares during the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc lifted 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 grew its stake 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 valued at $210,210,000 after purchasing an additional 42,882 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its holdings in shares of Cognex by 13.7% in the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 3,820,394 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $136,999,000 after purchasing an additional 461,724 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.