Cognex Corporation $CGNX Shares Sold by Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC

Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 19.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 373,861 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 92,415 shares during the period. Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC owned about 0.22% of Cognex worth $17,310,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in Cognex by 148.5% in the 2nd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,075,772 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $223,594,000 after purchasing an additional 4,228,729 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Cognex by 18,810.9% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,794,649 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $56,657,000 after purchasing an additional 1,785,159 shares in the last quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Cognex during the second quarter worth $45,723,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Cognex during the second quarter worth $38,889,000. Finally, Electron Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Cognex by 286.5% in the second quarter. Electron Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,337,608 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $42,429,000 after buying an additional 991,567 shares in the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on CGNX shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $35.00 target price (down previously from $45.00) on shares of Cognex in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $58.00 target price on shares of Cognex in a research report on Friday, October 31st. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $50.00 price target on shares of Cognex in a research report on Friday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Cognex from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $42.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, DA Davidson set a $38.00 price objective on shares of Cognex and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $45.79.

Cognex Stock Performance

Shares of CGNX opened at $36.80 on Friday. Cognex Corporation has a 1 year low of $22.67 and a 1 year high of $49.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.17 billion, a PE ratio of 57.50 and a beta of 1.53. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $39.30.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $264.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $261.86 million. Cognex had a net margin of 11.33% and a return on equity of 8.26%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.20 earnings per share. Cognex has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 0.190-0.24 EPS. Analysts predict that Cognex Corporation will post 0.61 EPS for the current year.

Cognex Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 13th were issued a $0.085 dividend. This represents a $0.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 13th. This is a positive change from Cognex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 53.13%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Robert Willett sold 6,704 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.51, for a total transaction of $331,915.04. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Profile

Cognex Corporation is a leading provider of machine vision systems, software, sensors and industrial barcode readers used to automate manufacturing, logistics and distribution processes. The company designs and develops vision-based products that help manufacturers and logistics operators inspect, identify and guide parts, assemblies and packaged goods in real time. Its solutions are applied in a broad range of industries, including automotive, electronics, semiconductor, pharmaceutical, food and beverage, and general manufacturing.

The company’s product portfolio includes stand-alone vision systems, vision sensors and deep learning-based software platforms that enable automated inspection, quality control and traceability.