Stephens Reiterates “Overweight” Rating for Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reissued by equities research analysts at Stephens in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $55.00 price target on the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock. Stephens’ price objective would suggest a potential upside of 70.41% from the company’s current price.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Needham & Company LLC dropped their target price on Cognex from $47.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. Truist Financial reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $37.00 price target (down from $43.00) on shares of Cognex in a research report on Friday, February 14th. HSBC downgraded shares of Cognex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $33.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday, February 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of Cognex from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Cognex from $58.00 to $56.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $44.83.

Cognex Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of CGNX traded up $0.11 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $32.28. The stock had a trading volume of 144,054 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,473,477. The company has a market capitalization of $5.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.91 and a beta of 1.43. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $36.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $38.21. Cognex has a 12 month low of $31.06 and a 12 month high of $53.13.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by ($0.01). Cognex had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 5.65%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Cognex will post 0.61 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cognex

In other news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction dated 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 $149,445.18. This trade represents a 59.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CTO Joerg Kuechen sold 2,934 shares of the business’s 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CGNX. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its position 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 worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 394 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Cognex during the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Cognex by 50.0% during the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 885 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 295 shares in the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC bought a new position in Cognex in the 3rd quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in Cognex by 129.9% during the 4th 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 buying an additional 569 shares in the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.