Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) Stock Gets Price Target Cut from DA Davidson

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) had its price target trimmed by DA Davidson from $65.00 to $55.00 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.

CGNX has been the subject of several other reports. HSBC lowered shares of Cognex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $65.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, August 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Cognex from $75.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 6th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Cognex from $78.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $91.00 price target on shares of Cognex in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Finally, KeyCorp decreased their price target on Cognex from $80.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cognex currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $71.00.

Cognex Trading Up 1.8%

Cognex stock opened at $51.72 on Monday. Cognex has a 52 week low of $34.60 and a 52 week high of $72.88. The stock has a market cap of $8.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.17 and a beta of 1.49. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $58.48 and a 200-day moving average of $58.19.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 4th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $313.39 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $313.62 million. Cognex had a net margin of 21.50% and a return on equity of 15.75%. The business’s revenue was up 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Cognex will post 1.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, November 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.09 per share. This represents a $0.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. This is a boost from Cognex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.0850. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 19th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.78%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cognex

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Robinhood Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Cognex during the second quarter worth about $16,461,000. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in Cognex by 51.9% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 731,149 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $35,819,000 after purchasing an additional 249,877 shares in the last quarter. Equitable Holdings Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Cognex in the 2nd quarter worth $918,000. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC acquired a new stake in Cognex in the 2nd quarter valued at about $4,894,000. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Cognex in the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,034,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Company Profile

Cognex Corporation develops machine vision products that help businesses automate the inspection, identification and measurement of manufactured goods and packages. Its offerings include vision systems, barcode readers, vision sensors and software that analyze images captured during production and logistics operations. The company’s technology is used in industries such as automotive, electronics, consumer goods, pharmaceuticals and logistics. Applications include checking product quality, guiding robots and reading codes on items moving through manufacturing and distribution facilities.