Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) Receives “Buy” Rating from Truist Financial

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by investment analysts at Truist Financial in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $50.00 price target on the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, up from their prior price target of $47.00. Truist Financial’s price objective points to a potential upside of 12.38% from the company’s current price.

CGNX has been the subject of a number of other reports. StockNews.com cut Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, February 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of Cognex from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Citigroup upped their target price on Cognex from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on shares of Cognex from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Cognex from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $48.92.

Cognex Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CGNX opened at $44.49 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $7.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 76.71 and a beta of 1.48. Cognex has a one year low of $34.28 and a one year high of $59.51. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $40.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.96.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $196.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $189.16 million. Cognex had a return on equity of 6.81% and a net margin of 11.76%. The firm’s revenue was down 17.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.27 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Cognex will post 0.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cognex

In other news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,782 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total transaction of $274,942.28. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Cognex in the fourth quarter worth approximately $12,417,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in shares of Cognex during the 4th quarter valued at $2,016,000. Baillie Gifford & Co. increased its stake in shares of Cognex by 9.0% in the 4th quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 1,206,227 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $50,348,000 after purchasing an additional 99,647 shares in the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Cognex by 49.4% in the 4th quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 402,248 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $17,120,000 after purchasing an additional 132,991 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Natixis Advisors L.P. raised its holdings in Cognex by 26.3% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 227,641 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $9,661,000 after purchasing an additional 47,408 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

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.