Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) Sets New 12-Month Low – Should You Sell?

Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) reached a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $32.50 and last traded at $33.92, with a volume of 6422026 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $39.25.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on CGNX. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Cognex to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Needham & Company LLC cut their target price on Cognex from $50.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Citigroup cut their target price on Cognex from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Truist Financial upped their target price on Cognex from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Cognex in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.92.

Cognex Stock Performance

The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $37.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $39.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.82 billion, a PE ratio of 65.23 and a beta of 1.40.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.15 by ($0.01). Cognex had a return on equity of 5.28% and a net margin of 10.10%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Cognex Co. will post 0.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th will be paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.94%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 27th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 61.54%.

Insider Activity at Cognex

In other Cognex news, CTO Joerg Kuechen sold 2,934 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.75, for a total value of $110,758.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Anthony Sun sold 26,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 $1,065,118.24. This trade represents a 49.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Cognex by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,479,828 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $662,687,000 after purchasing an additional 296,251 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cognex by 27.3% during the 4th quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 5,840,117 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $209,427,000 after buying an additional 1,253,996 shares during the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc increased its holdings in shares of Cognex by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 5,230,271 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $211,303,000 after buying an additional 131,560 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Cognex by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,190,365 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $210,210,000 after buying an additional 42,882 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its holdings in shares of Cognex by 13.7% during the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 3,820,394 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $136,999,000 after buying an additional 461,724 shares during the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.