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

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) had its price objective cut by UBS Group from $58.00 to $56.00 in a report issued on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Cognex from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Truist Financial restated 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. Needham & Company LLC decreased their target price on shares of Cognex from $47.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Cognex in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Cognex to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cognex has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.42.

Cognex Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of CGNX stock opened at $33.40 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $5.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.75 and a beta of 1.40. Cognex has a 52 week low of $32.41 and a 52 week high of $53.13. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $37.43 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $38.77.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.14 EPS 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%. On average, analysts anticipate that Cognex will post 0.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.96%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.46%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CTO Joerg Kuechen sold 2,934 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cognex

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Cognex by 123.1% during the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 714 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 394 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Cognex during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Cognex by 50.0% during the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 885 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 295 shares in the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Cognex during the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cognex by 129.9% during the fourth quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 1,007 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 569 shares in the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.