Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) Given New $42.00 Price Target at Truist Financial

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) had its target price reduced by Truist Financial from $43.00 to $42.00 in a report released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a hold rating on the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on CGNX. Stephens upgraded shares of Cognex from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $45.00 to $55.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Needham & Company LLC dropped their target price on shares of Cognex from $50.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $47.92.

Cognex Stock Up 0.3 %

NASDAQ CGNX traded up $0.11 on Thursday, hitting $36.18. 234,914 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,257,960. The company has a market cap of $6.21 billion, a PE ratio of 69.58 and a beta of 1.39. Cognex has a fifty-two week low of $34.79 and a fifty-two week high of $53.13. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $39.58 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.79.

Cognex Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.88%. This is a positive change from Cognex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 61.54%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CTO Joerg Kuechen sold 2,934 shares of Cognex 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 the SEC website. Also, Director Anthony Sun sold 26,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.03, for a total transaction of $1,040,780.00. Following the sale, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cognex

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CGNX. William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Cognex by 8.1% in the 2nd quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 4,018,539 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $187,907,000 after acquiring an additional 301,916 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Cognex by 33.8% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,621,629 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $75,828,000 after purchasing an additional 409,502 shares during the period. Bridges Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Cognex in the 2nd quarter valued at about $980,000. Legacy Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cognex by 15.3% in the 2nd quarter. Legacy Advisors LLC now owns 17,625 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $824,000 after purchasing an additional 2,344 shares during the period. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of Cognex by 16.3% in the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,494,312 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $69,874,000 after purchasing an additional 209,630 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.