Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. Takes $729,000 Position in Cognex Corporation $CGNX

Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. purchased a new position in Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 16,082 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $729,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of CGNX. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in Cognex by 148.5% in the second quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,075,772 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $223,594,000 after buying an additional 4,228,729 shares in the last quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN boosted its position in Cognex by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 4,768,716 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $151,264,000 after acquiring an additional 40,927 shares in the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cognex by 17.9% in the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 2,724,331 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $86,416,000 after acquiring an additional 413,088 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its position in shares of Cognex by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 2,029,648 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $64,366,000 after acquiring an additional 6,801 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cognex by 18,810.9% during the 2nd 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 during the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cognex Stock Up 2.6%

Shares of Cognex stock opened at $36.93 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $38.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $39.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.70 and a beta of 1.52. Cognex Corporation has a 52 week low of $22.67 and a 52 week high of $49.76.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.06. The business 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%. Cognex’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.20 EPS. Cognex has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 0.190-0.24 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Cognex Corporation will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cognex news, Director Robert Willett sold 6,704 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.51, for a total transaction of $331,915.04. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CGNX has been the topic of several analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on Cognex from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Cognex from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $42.00 to $50.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 16th. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $56.00 price objective (up previously from $55.00) on shares of Cognex in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Cognex from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 18th. Finally, KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $50.00 target price on shares of Cognex in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cognex presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $45.79.

About Cognex

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.