Citigroup Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) Stock Price

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) had its price objective trimmed by Citigroup from $44.00 to $42.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on CGNX. Needham & Company LLC dropped their target price on shares of Cognex from $50.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Truist Financial reduced their target price on Cognex from $43.00 to $42.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised Cognex to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $47.83.

Cognex Stock Performance

Shares of CGNX opened at $38.52 on Monday. Cognex has a fifty-two week low of $34.79 and a fifty-two week high of $53.13. The firm has a market cap of $6.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 74.08 and a beta of 1.40. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $38.35 and a 200-day moving average price of $40.60.

Cognex Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were given a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.83%. This is an increase from Cognex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. Cognex’s payout ratio is presently 61.54%.

Insider Activity at Cognex

In related news, CTO Joerg Kuechen sold 2,934 shares of the company’s 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Anthony Sun sold 26,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 26,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,065,118.24. The trade was a 49.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cognex

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Cognex by 5.2% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,784,239 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $72,262,000 after purchasing an additional 87,790 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Cognex by 33.8% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,621,629 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $75,828,000 after acquiring an additional 409,502 shares during the last quarter. Bridges Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Cognex during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $980,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its position in Cognex by 16.3% in the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,494,312 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $69,874,000 after acquiring an additional 209,630 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Daventry Group LP increased its stake in Cognex by 30.1% in the second quarter. Daventry Group LP now owns 487,873 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $22,813,000 after purchasing an additional 112,873 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.