Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) PT Raised to $48.00 at Needham & Company LLC

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) had its target price lifted by stock analysts at Needham & Company LLC from $46.00 to $48.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 9.61% from the company’s current price.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the company. StockNews.com downgraded Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, February 19th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Cognex from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Truist Financial assumed coverage on Cognex in a report on Thursday, March 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $47.00 price target for the company. Finally, UBS Group raised Cognex from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $42.00 to $54.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $48.58.

Cognex Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CGNX opened at $43.79 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $40.67 and a 200-day moving average price of $38.89. The company has a market cap of $7.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 75.50 and a beta of 1.48. Cognex has a fifty-two week low of $34.28 and a fifty-two week high of $59.51.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $196.70 million during 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 company’s revenue was down 17.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.27 EPS. Research analysts predict that Cognex will post 0.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,782 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.54, for a total transaction of $274,942.28. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cognex

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. 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 valued at $66,878,000 after purchasing an additional 312,098 shares in the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S boosted its holdings in Cognex by 303.1% in the first quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 770 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 579 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Cognex by 30.5% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 870,822 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $36,940,000 after acquiring an additional 203,684 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in 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 worth $113,722,000 after acquiring an additional 598,207 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in Cognex by 153.6% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 134,516 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $5,706,000 after acquiring an additional 81,467 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

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.