Cognex’s (CGNX) Buy Rating Reaffirmed at Truist Financial

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by Truist Financial in a report issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $50.00 target price on the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, up from their prior target price of $47.00. Truist Financial’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 12.38% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on shares of Cognex from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, February 19th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on Cognex from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Stephens upped their target price on Cognex from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on Cognex from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $48.92.

Cognex Price Performance

NASDAQ:CGNX opened at $44.49 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.64 billion, a PE ratio of 76.71 and a beta of 1.48. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $40.79 and its 200 day moving average price is $38.96. Cognex has a 12 month low of $34.28 and a 12 month high of $59.51.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.11 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $196.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $189.16 million. Cognex had a return on equity of 6.81% and a net margin of 11.76%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 17.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.27 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Cognex will post 0.44 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Cognex

In other Cognex 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 transaction of $274,942.28. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cognex

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CGNX. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp grew its holdings in Cognex by 1.3% during the first quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 150,657 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $6,391,000 after acquiring an additional 1,950 shares during the period. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC boosted its position in shares of Cognex by 24.7% during the 1st quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC now owns 1,576,558 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $66,878,000 after purchasing an additional 312,098 shares in the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S grew its stake in shares of Cognex by 303.1% during the 1st quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 770 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 579 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cognex by 30.5% in the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 870,822 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $36,940,000 after purchasing an additional 203,684 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of Cognex by 29.0% in the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 2,663,900 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $113,722,000 after purchasing an additional 598,207 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.