Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) Shares Up 4%

Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX)’s share price shot up 4% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $46.16 and last traded at $46.03. 568,677 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 58% from the average session volume of 1,362,100 shares. The stock had previously closed at $44.25.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on CGNX. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on shares of Cognex from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price target (up previously from $47.00) on shares of Cognex in a research note on Tuesday, May 7th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Cognex from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Cognex from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $42.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Stephens lifted their price target on shares of Cognex from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Cognex currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $49.15.

Cognex Stock Performance

The company’s 50 day moving average price is $43.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $40.91. The company has a market cap of $7.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 78.59 and a beta of 1.45.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. Cognex had a return on equity of 6.81% and a net margin of 11.76%. The business had revenue of $210.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $198.14 million. As a group, analysts predict that Cognex Co. will post 0.45 EPS for the current year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th were issued a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.66%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.72%.

Institutional Trading of Cognex

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CGNX. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV increased its stake in shares of Cognex by 94.4% in the 1st quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 589 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 286 shares during the last quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of Cognex in the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S increased its stake in shares of Cognex by 303.1% in the 1st quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 770 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 579 shares during the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Cognex by 1,239.7% in the 1st quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 777 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 719 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. increased its stake in shares of Cognex by 71.1% in the 3rd quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 804 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 334 shares during the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.