Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) Upgraded to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report published on Saturday.

CGNX has been the subject of a number of other reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Cognex in a report on Monday, December 29th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Cognex in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. DA Davidson set a $55.00 price objective on Cognex and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective (up from $50.00) on shares of Cognex in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of Cognex in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $55.21.

Cognex Price Performance

NASDAQ CGNX opened at $54.40 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $9.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 81.20 and a beta of 1.53. Cognex has a 12 month low of $22.67 and a 12 month high of $59.88. The company has a 50-day moving average of $43.41 and a 200-day moving average of $42.66.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $252.34 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $238.92 million. Cognex had a net margin of 11.51% and a return on equity of 9.02%. Cognex’s revenue was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.16 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Cognex will post 0.61 EPS for the current year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 26th will be given a $0.085 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 26th. This represents a $0.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.75%.

Insider Activity

In other Cognex news, Director Angelos Papadimitriou sold 4,150 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.58, for a total value of $230,657.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 16,222 shares in the company, valued at $901,618.76. The trade was a 20.37% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert Willett sold 177,052 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.39, for a total transaction of $10,338,066.28. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 196,083 shares of company stock worth $11,419,321 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its stake in Cognex by 173,138.2% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 10,477,448 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $376,979,000 after purchasing an additional 10,471,400 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Cognex in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $73,103,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Cognex during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $68,388,000. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cognex by 18,810.9% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,794,649 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $56,657,000 after buying an additional 1,785,159 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA grew its position in shares of Cognex by 27.9% during the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 7,013,184 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $252,360,000 after buying an additional 1,529,010 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Company Profile

Cognex Corporation is a leading provider of machine vision systems, software, sensors and industrial barcode readers used to automate manufacturing, logistics and distribution processes. The company designs and develops vision-based products that help manufacturers and logistics operators inspect, identify and guide parts, assemblies and packaged goods in real time. Its solutions are applied in a broad range of industries, including automotive, electronics, semiconductor, pharmaceutical, food and beverage, and general manufacturing.

The company’s product portfolio includes stand-alone vision systems, vision sensors and deep learning-based software platforms that enable automated inspection, quality control and traceability.