Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) Receives Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Shares of Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX - Get Free Report) have received a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the twelve ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have issued a hold recommendation, seven have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $50.00.

CGNX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Cognex from $46.00 to $42.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 5th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cognex from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. DA Davidson dropped their target price on Cognex from $41.00 to $39.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 5th. Stephens raised Cognex from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $45.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on Cognex from $48.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 29th.

Insider Transactions at Cognex

In related news, CFO Dennis Fehr purchased 6,570 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $38.04 per share, for a total transaction of $249,922.80. Following the purchase, the chief financial officer now owns 6,570 shares in the company, valued at approximately $249,922.80. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Dianne M. Parrotte bought 2,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was bought at an average price of $38.62 per share, with a total value of $77,240.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 11,340 shares of the company's stock, valued at $437,950.80. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Dennis Fehr purchased 6,570 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $38.04 per share, for a total transaction of $249,922.80. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer now directly owns 6,570 shares of the company's stock, valued at $249,922.80. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Roubaix Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Cognex by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. Roubaix Capital LLC now owns 82,764 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $3,352,000 after acquiring an additional 4,792 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its position in Cognex by 7.2% during the third quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 20,026 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $811,000 after purchasing an additional 1,350 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in Cognex by 38.2% during the third quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 18,386 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $745,000 after buying an additional 5,084 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC bought a new position in Cognex in the 3rd quarter valued at about $283,000. Finally, Copeland Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Cognex by 10.2% in the 3rd quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 1,767,426 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $71,581,000 after buying an additional 162,965 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.12% of the company's stock.

Cognex Price Performance

Shares of Cognex stock traded up $0.15 on Friday, hitting $38.84. The company had a trading volume of 2,022,381 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,277,412. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $39.32 and a 200-day moving average of $42.95. Cognex has a twelve month low of $34.28 and a twelve month high of $53.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 66.97 and a beta of 1.41.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $239.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $240.33 million. Cognex had a return on equity of 4.97% and a net margin of 9.29%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.32 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Cognex will post 0.44 EPS for the current year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were given a $0.075 dividend. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. Cognex's payout ratio is presently 51.72%.

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.