Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.08

Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, October 30th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th will be paid a dividend of 0.08 per share by the scientific and technical instruments company on Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.79%. This is a boost from Cognex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08.

Cognex has increased its dividend payment by an average of 8.2% annually over the last three years. Cognex has a dividend payout ratio of 30.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Cognex to earn $0.72 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.30 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 41.7%.

Cognex Trading Down 0.3 %

NASDAQ CGNX traded down $0.14 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $40.46. 1,140,933 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,276,616. The company has a market cap of $6.95 billion, a PE ratio of 70.00 and a beta of 1.41. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $39.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $42.95. Cognex has a fifty-two week low of $34.28 and a fifty-two week high of $53.13.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $239.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $240.33 million. Cognex had a net margin of 9.29% and a return on equity of 4.97%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.32 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Cognex will post 0.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on CGNX. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Cognex from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Vertical Research began coverage on shares of Cognex in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $58.00 price target on the stock. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on Cognex from $48.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. DA Davidson reduced their price target on Cognex from $41.00 to $39.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Stephens raised Cognex from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $45.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $50.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Dennis Fehr bought 6,570 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $38.04 per share, with a total value of $249,922.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 6,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $249,922.80. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Cognex news, CFO Dennis Fehr acquired 6,570 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $38.04 per share, for a total transaction of $249,922.80. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer now owns 6,570 shares in the company, valued at approximately $249,922.80. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Dianne M. Parrotte acquired 2,000 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $38.62 per share, with a total value of $77,240.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 11,340 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $437,950.80. The trade was a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.