Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) Shares Up 7.6% After Dividend Announcement

Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) shares were up 7.6% during trading on Thursday following a dividend announcement from the company. The company traded as high as $44.05 and last traded at $44.05. Approximately 213,741 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 85% from the average daily volume of 1,451,534 shares. The stock had previously closed at $40.94.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Thursday, May 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be issued a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.69%. Cognex’s payout ratio is 51.72%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. StockNews.com cut Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, February 19th. Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on Cognex from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Cognex from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. UBS Group upgraded shares of Cognex from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $42.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Truist Financial started coverage on shares of Cognex in a report on Thursday, March 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $47.00 price target for the company. Three 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $48.58.

Cognex Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $7.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 75.50 and a beta of 1.48. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $40.67 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.89.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.04. Cognex had a net margin of 11.76% and a return on equity of 6.81%. The firm had revenue of $196.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $189.16 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.27 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 17.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Cognex Co. will post 0.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Cognex

In other Cognex news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,782 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total value of $274,942.28. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cognex

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Cognex by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,334,064 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $723,524,000 after buying an additional 203,149 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its position in Cognex by 17.8% in the 3rd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 5,536,355 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $234,962,000 after acquiring an additional 837,487 shares during the period. Brown Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Cognex by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Brown Capital Management LLC now owns 5,419,313 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $226,202,000 after acquiring an additional 262,003 shares in the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc boosted its position in Cognex by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 2,842,978 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $118,666,000 after acquiring an additional 31,483 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Cognex by 29.0% in the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,663,900 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $113,722,000 after purchasing an additional 598,207 shares in the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.