Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) to Issue $0.08 Quarterly Dividend

Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, July 31st, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of 0.075 per share by the scientific and technical instruments company on Thursday, August 29th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 15th.

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 29.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Cognex to earn $0.87 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 34.5%.

Cognex Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of Cognex stock traded down $0.25 on Wednesday, reaching $38.91. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 71,838 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,344,095. The company has a market capitalization of $6.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 67.52 and a beta of 1.42. Cognex has a 52-week low of $34.28 and a 52-week high of $53.13. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $46.14 and a 200-day moving average price of $43.02.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.17 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $239.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $240.33 million. Cognex had a return on equity of 4.97% and a net margin of 9.29%. The business’s revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.32 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Cognex will post 0.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on Cognex from $48.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Cognex from $45.00 to $39.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $45.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Cognex from $46.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Vertical Research assumed coverage on Cognex in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $58.00 price objective for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $49.62.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cognex news, Director Dianne M. Parrotte acquired 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $38.62 per share, with a total value of $77,240.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 11,340 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $437,950.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company’s stock.

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.