Stephens Reiterates Overweight Rating for Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX)

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reiterated by investment analysts at Stephens in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $55.00 target price on the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock. Stephens’ price objective suggests a potential upside of 81.76% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on CGNX. Truist Financial reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $37.00 target price (down previously from $43.00) on shares of Cognex in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Needham & Company LLC reduced their target price on shares of Cognex from $47.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Hsbc Global Res cut shares of Cognex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Cognex from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Cognex to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $44.83.

Cognex Price Performance

NASDAQ:CGNX opened at $30.26 on Wednesday. Cognex has a one year low of $30.04 and a one year high of $53.13. The company has a market cap of $5.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.61 and a beta of 1.43. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $36.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $38.11.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by ($0.01). Cognex had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 5.65%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Cognex will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cognex news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,803 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.73, for a total transaction of $222,662.19. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 4,566 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $149,445.18. The trade was a 59.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Cognex by 5.2% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,784,239 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $72,262,000 after buying an additional 87,790 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cognex in the third quarter valued at approximately $790,000. Premier Fund Managers Ltd increased its stake in shares of Cognex by 255.1% in the third quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd now owns 24,854 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,001,000 after buying an additional 17,854 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Cognex by 5.9% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,386,973 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $56,172,000 after buying an additional 77,146 shares during the period. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Cognex by 75.1% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,870 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $102,000 after buying an additional 1,231 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

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.