Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) Hits New 1-Year Low – Here’s What Happened

Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) shares reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $26.90 and last traded at $27.25, with a volume of 911462 shares. The stock had previously closed at $30.59.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CGNX has been the subject of several research reports. UBS Group dropped their target price on Cognex from $58.00 to $56.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. HSBC cut shares of Cognex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $33.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, February 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Cognex from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Hsbc Global Res lowered Cognex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Cognex presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $44.83.

Cognex Trading Down 11.8 %

The firm has a market cap of $4.57 billion, a PE ratio of 44.25 and a beta of 1.56. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $34.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.33.

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 net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 5.65%. On average, research analysts expect that Cognex Co. will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th were given a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.19%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.46%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.73, for a total value of $222,662.19. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 4,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $149,445.18. This represents a 59.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cognex

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CGNX. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its stake in Cognex by 3.3% in the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 40,596 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,644,000 after purchasing an additional 1,293 shares during the period. Verition Fund Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cognex during the third quarter worth about $306,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. increased its position in Cognex by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. now owns 4,055 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $164,000 after acquiring an additional 349 shares during the period. Holocene Advisors LP increased its position in Cognex by 80.0% in the 3rd quarter. Holocene Advisors LP now owns 172,618 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $6,991,000 after acquiring an additional 76,738 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in Cognex by 122.7% during the 3rd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,834,755 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $114,808,000 after acquiring an additional 1,562,115 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.