Robert W. Baird Cuts Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) Price Target to $38.00

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) had its target price trimmed by Robert W. Baird from $42.00 to $38.00 in a report released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a neutral rating on the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Needham & Company LLC cut their price target on shares of Cognex from $47.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Cognex from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $37.00 price target (down from $43.00) on shares of Cognex in a report on Friday, February 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Cognex to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Cognex in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.42.

Cognex Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of Cognex stock opened at $33.40 on Tuesday. Cognex has a 12-month low of $32.41 and a 12-month high of $53.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.75 and a beta of 1.40. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $37.43 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $38.77.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.15 by ($0.01). Cognex had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 5.65%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Cognex will post 0.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 27th will be issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 27th. Cognex’s payout ratio is currently 52.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CTO Joerg Kuechen sold 2,934 shares of the business’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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cognex

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CGNX. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Cognex by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,479,828 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $662,687,000 after buying an additional 296,251 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Cognex by 27.3% during the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 5,840,117 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $209,427,000 after purchasing an additional 1,253,996 shares in the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc increased its position in shares of Cognex by 2.6% during the third quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 5,230,271 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $211,303,000 after purchasing an additional 131,560 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Cognex by 0.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,190,365 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $210,210,000 after purchasing an additional 42,882 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA grew its holdings in shares of Cognex by 13.7% during the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 3,820,394 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $136,999,000 after buying an additional 461,724 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.