Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) Trading Up 7.6% Following Dividend Announcement

Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) shares traded up 7.6% on Thursday after the company announced a dividend. The stock traded as high as $44.05 and last traded at $44.05. 213,741 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 85% from the average session 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.075 per share. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.72%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CGNX has been the topic of a number of research reports. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Cognex from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. StockNews.com cut Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, February 19th. Stephens upped their price objective on Cognex from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. UBS Group upgraded shares of Cognex from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $42.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on shares of Cognex from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $48.58.

Cognex Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $7.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 75.50 and a beta of 1.48. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $40.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $38.89.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.04. Cognex had a return on equity of 6.81% and a net margin of 11.76%. The business had revenue of $196.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $189.16 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.27 EPS. Cognex’s revenue for the quarter was down 17.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Cognex Co. will post 0.44 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Cognex

In other Cognex news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,782 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total transaction of $274,942.28. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cognex

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CGNX. United Services Automobile Association lifted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 2.4% during the third quarter. United Services Automobile Association now owns 11,682 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $496,000 after purchasing an additional 279 shares during the period. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV grew its position 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 buying an additional 286 shares during the last quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. increased its stake in shares of Cognex by 4.8% in the first quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. now owns 6,279 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $266,000 after buying an additional 287 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its position in shares of Cognex by 11.9% during the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,760 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $115,000 after acquiring an additional 294 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lifted its stake in shares of Cognex by 0.4% in the third quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 78,043 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $3,312,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. 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.