Truist Financial Issues Positive Forecast for Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) Stock Price

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) had its price objective increased by Truist Financial from $42.00 to $43.00 in a research report report published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a hold rating on the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on CGNX. Needham & Company LLC cut their price target on Cognex from $50.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Cognex in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Cognex to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Cognex from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cognex presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $47.92.

Cognex Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ CGNX opened at $39.36 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 75.69 and a beta of 1.40. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $38.28 and its 200-day moving average price is $40.59. Cognex has a 1-year low of $34.79 and a 1-year high of $53.13.

Cognex Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 14th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. This is a positive change from Cognex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 61.54%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cognex

In other Cognex news, Director Anthony Sun sold 26,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.03, for a total value of $1,040,780.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 26,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,065,118.24. The trade was a 49.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CTO Joerg Kuechen sold 2,934 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.75, for a total value of $110,758.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Cognex by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 492,667 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $23,037,000 after purchasing an additional 11,251 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Cognex by 33.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,621,629 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $75,828,000 after buying an additional 409,502 shares during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Cognex in the second quarter valued at $518,000. Wealth Alliance bought a new stake in shares of Cognex in the second quarter valued at $211,000. Finally, Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Cognex during the 2nd quarter valued at $202,000. 88.12% of the stock is currently 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.