Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) Earns Overweight Rating from Stephens

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX)‘s stock had its “overweight” rating reaffirmed by equities research analysts at Stephens in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $55.00 target price on the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock. Stephens’ price objective indicates a potential upside of 53.37% from the company’s current price.

CGNX has been the topic of several other reports. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Cognex to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Needham & Company LLC decreased their price target on Cognex from $50.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price objective on Cognex from $43.00 to $42.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.92.

Cognex Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CGNX opened at $35.86 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.15 billion, a PE ratio of 68.96 and a beta of 1.39. The company’s fifty day moving average is $38.94 and its 200-day moving average is $41.27. Cognex has a 52 week low of $34.79 and a 52 week high of $53.13.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Anthony Sun sold 26,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.03, for a total transaction of $1,040,780.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 26,608 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,065,118.24. The trade was a 49.42 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Joerg Kuechen sold 2,934 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.75, for a total value of $110,758.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cognex

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Riverview Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Cognex in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Cognex by 123.1% in the third quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 714 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 394 shares during the period. Truvestments Capital LLC acquired a new position in Cognex in the third quarter valued at about $36,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in shares of Cognex in the third quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in shares of Cognex during the 2nd quarter valued at about $55,000. 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.