Angelos Papadimitriou Sells 4,150 Shares of Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) Stock

Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) Director Angelos Papadimitriou sold 4,150 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.58, for a total value of $230,657.00. Following the sale, the director owned 16,222 shares in the company, valued at $901,618.76. The trade was a 20.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Cognex Stock Up 2.5%

CGNX stock traded up $1.41 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $57.88. The company had a trading volume of 2,519,224 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,305,256. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 86.39 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $41.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.25. Cognex Corporation has a 52-week low of $22.67 and a 52-week high of $59.88.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.05. Cognex had a return on equity of 9.02% and a net margin of 11.51%.The firm had revenue of $252.34 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $238.92 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.16 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Cognex Corporation will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 26th will be given a dividend of $0.085 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 26th. This represents a $0.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.75%.

Institutional Trading of Cognex

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CGNX. Quent Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Cognex in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. REAP Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Cognex in the third quarter valued at $27,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in Cognex by 402.2% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 919 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 736 shares in the last quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cognex during the 2nd quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Cognex in the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on CGNX shares. DA Davidson set a $55.00 target price on Cognex and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Cognex in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $35.00 target price (down from $45.00) on shares of Cognex in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $61.00 target price (up from $54.00) on shares of Cognex in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $55.21.

About Cognex

Cognex Corporation is a leading provider of machine vision systems, software, sensors and industrial barcode readers used to automate manufacturing, logistics and distribution processes. The company designs and develops vision-based products that help manufacturers and logistics operators inspect, identify and guide parts, assemblies and packaged goods in real time. Its solutions are applied in a broad range of industries, including automotive, electronics, semiconductor, pharmaceutical, food and beverage, and general manufacturing.

The company’s product portfolio includes stand-alone vision systems, vision sensors and deep learning-based software platforms that enable automated inspection, quality control and traceability.