Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) Now Covered by Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) in a research note published on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage issued a buy rating and a $64.00 price target on the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price objective on Cognex from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 6th. Stephens lowered their target price on Cognex from $85.00 to $70.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 6th. KeyCorp dropped their price target on Cognex from $80.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 6th. Zacks Research cut Cognex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 6th. Finally, Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $74.00 price target (up from $72.00) on shares of Cognex in a research note on Friday, August 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $71.00.

Cognex Stock Performance

Shares of CGNX stock opened at $51.72 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.17 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $58.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $58.19. Cognex has a 52 week low of $34.60 and a 52 week high of $72.88.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 4th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $313.39 million for 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%. Cognex’s quarterly revenue was up 13.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.33 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Cognex will post 1.71 EPS for the current year.

Cognex Increases Dividend

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cognex

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Cognex during the second quarter worth approximately $1,158,123,000. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its stake in Cognex by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 5,985,986 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $363,002,000 after acquiring an additional 156,108 shares during the period. Jupiter Topco LLC bought a new position in Cognex during the 2nd quarter worth $161,425,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its holdings in Cognex by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,227,288 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $135,085,000 after acquiring an additional 11,927 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings in Cognex by 81.0% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,660,411 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $130,320,000 after acquiring an additional 1,190,434 shares in the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.