Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) Upgraded to Buy by HSBC

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) was upgraded by analysts at HSBC from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Tuesday, Marketbeat reports.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on CGNX. 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. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Cognex from $36.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday. StockNews.com cut shares of Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, February 19th. UBS Group raised shares of Cognex from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $42.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of Cognex from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $48.92.

Cognex Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CGNX traded up $1.27 on Tuesday, reaching $45.76. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 311,973 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,452,957. Cognex has a 52-week low of $34.28 and a 52-week high of $59.51. The company has a market cap of $7.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 78.72 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $38.96.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,782 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total value of $274,942.28. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cognex

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in CGNX. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in Cognex in the fourth quarter valued at $12,417,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new position in Cognex in the 4th quarter worth about $2,016,000. Baillie Gifford & Co. raised its holdings in Cognex by 9.0% in the 4th quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 1,206,227 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $50,348,000 after purchasing an additional 99,647 shares during the period. WCM Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Cognex by 49.4% in the 4th quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 402,248 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $17,120,000 after purchasing an additional 132,991 shares during the period. Finally, Natixis Advisors L.P. raised its holdings in Cognex by 26.3% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 227,641 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $9,661,000 after purchasing an additional 47,408 shares during the period. 88.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.