Vertical Research Begins Coverage on Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Vertical Research assumed coverage on shares of Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) in a research note published on Tuesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm issued a buy rating and a $58.00 price objective on the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock.

CGNX has been the subject of several other reports. Truist Financial increased their price target on Cognex from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on Cognex from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Stephens increased their price objective on Cognex from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on Cognex from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Cognex from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $50.14.

Cognex Trading Up 2.0 %

NASDAQ CGNX opened at $49.68 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $47.42 and a 200 day simple moving average of $42.73. The company has a market capitalization of $8.53 billion, a PE ratio of 85.66 and a beta of 1.42. Cognex has a 12 month low of $34.28 and a 12 month high of $55.08.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last announced 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 company had revenue of $210.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $198.14 million. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Cognex will post 0.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th were given a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.60%. Cognex’s payout ratio is 51.72%.

Institutional Trading of Cognex

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Cognex by 15.0% in the second quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 321,549 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $15,036,000 after buying an additional 41,935 shares during the last quarter. Railway Pension Investments Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Cognex in the second quarter valued at approximately $27,196,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Cognex by 16.9% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,635,838 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $76,492,000 after buying an additional 236,540 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. lifted its position in shares of Cognex by 5.9% in the second quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 15,828 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $740,000 after buying an additional 883 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Baillie Gifford & Co. lifted its position in shares of Cognex by 11.6% in the second quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 1,299,175 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $60,749,000 after buying an additional 134,833 shares during the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.