Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) PT Raised to $55.00 at Sanford C. Bernstein

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) had its target price raised by equities researchers at Sanford C. Bernstein from $52.00 to $55.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock. Sanford C. Bernstein’s target price suggests a potential upside of 25.60% from the company’s current price.

CGNX has been the subject of several other reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, February 19th. Truist Financial assumed coverage on shares of Cognex in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $47.00 price objective for the company. Stephens boosted their price objective on shares of Cognex from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Cognex from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Cognex from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $48.58.

Cognex Stock Up 1.0 %

CGNX stock traded up $0.43 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $43.79. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,411,680 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,470,606. The company has a market capitalization of $7.52 billion, a PE ratio of 66.35 and a beta of 1.48. Cognex has a 12 month low of $34.28 and a 12 month high of $59.51. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $40.67 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.89.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $196.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $189.16 million. Cognex had a net margin of 13.52% and a return on equity of 6.86%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 17.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.27 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Cognex will post 0.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cognex news, EVP Carl Gerst sold 6,782 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were 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 link. Insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CGNX. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV lifted its position in Cognex by 94.4% during the 1st quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 589 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 286 shares during the period. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of Cognex in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Rise Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Cognex by 1,239.7% in the 1st quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 777 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 719 shares during the period. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S raised its position in shares of Cognex by 303.1% in the 1st quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 770 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 579 shares during the period. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. raised its position in shares of Cognex by 71.1% in the 3rd quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 804 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 334 shares during the period. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cognex Company Profile

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.