Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) Upgraded at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) from an underweight rating to a neutral rating in a research note released on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has $55.00 target price on the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Robert W. Baird set a $55.00 target price on Cognex in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Cognex in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Cognex in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 28th. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Cognex from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cognex presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $56.77.

Cognex Price Performance

CGNX opened at $50.99 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 76.11 and a beta of 1.46. Cognex has a 12 month low of $22.67 and a 12 month high of $59.88. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $45.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $43.13.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $252.34 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $238.92 million. Cognex had a return on equity of 9.02% and a net margin of 11.51%.The company’s revenue was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.16 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Cognex will post 0.61 EPS for the current year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 26th will be issued a $0.085 dividend. This represents a $0.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 26th. Cognex’s payout ratio is presently 50.75%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Laura Ann Macdonald sold 14,881 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.16, for a total value of $850,597.96. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 2,212 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $126,437.92. This trade represents a 87.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert Willett sold 177,052 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.39, for a total value of $10,338,066.28. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 196,083 shares of company stock valued at $11,419,321. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cognex

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CGNX. Quent Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Cognex during the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. REAP Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cognex during the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in Cognex by 402.2% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 919 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 736 shares in the last quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Cognex in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cognex during the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Company Profile

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.