Cantor Fitzgerald Initiates Coverage on Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Stock analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on shares of Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) in a research report issued on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage set an “overweight” rating and a $49.00 price target on the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock. Cantor Fitzgerald’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 36.99% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Stephens raised shares of Cognex from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $45.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Needham & Company LLC decreased their price target on shares of Cognex from $50.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Cognex from $43.00 to $42.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $47.92.

Cognex Stock Down 0.8 %

NASDAQ:CGNX opened at $35.77 on Thursday. Cognex has a 12-month low of $34.79 and a 12-month high of $53.13. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $39.51 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 68.79 and a beta of 1.39.

Insider Activity at Cognex

In other Cognex news, CTO Joerg Kuechen sold 2,934 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.75, for a total transaction of $110,758.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Anthony Sun sold 26,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.03, for a total transaction of $1,040,780.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 26,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,065,118.24. The trade was a 49.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cognex

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in CGNX. Raymond James & Associates boosted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 8.3% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 379,100 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $17,727,000 after purchasing an additional 29,118 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Cognex by 9.5% in the second quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 225,560 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $10,547,000 after buying an additional 19,619 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its position in Cognex by 11.3% in the second quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,829 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $179,000 after acquiring an additional 390 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Cognex in the second quarter valued at about $255,000. Finally, Ceredex Value Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Cognex during the second quarter worth about $17,095,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.