Rice Hall James & Associates LLC Purchases 12,901 Shares of Cognex Corporation $CGNX

Rice Hall James & Associates LLC raised its position in shares of Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 22.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 71,232 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,901 shares during the quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC’s holdings in Cognex were worth $3,490,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its position in shares of Cognex by 173,138.2% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 10,477,448 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $376,979,000 after purchasing an additional 10,471,400 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its stake in Cognex by 27.9% in the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 7,013,184 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $252,360,000 after buying an additional 1,529,010 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Cognex by 31.0% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,314,896 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $191,231,000 after buying an additional 1,258,629 shares in the last quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN raised its holdings in Cognex by 0.9% during the second 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 during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Cognex by 27.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,950,299 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $142,154,000 after acquiring an additional 842,783 shares during the period. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cognex

In other news, insider Mark Fennell sold 64,873 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.05, for a total transaction of $4,349,734.65. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 11,263 shares in the company, valued at approximately $755,184.15. This represents a 85.21% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Laura Ann Macdonald sold 98,122 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.80, for a total transaction of $6,554,549.60. Following the sale, the vice president owned 5,258 shares in the company, valued at $351,234.40. This represents a 94.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 224,847 shares of company stock worth $14,975,098 over the last 90 days. 1.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Cognex Price Performance

NASDAQ:CGNX opened at $62.05 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $10.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 73.87 and a beta of 1.49. Cognex Corporation has a 1 year low of $33.45 and a 1 year high of $72.88. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $64.97 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $55.47.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.09. Cognex had a return on equity of 10.89% and a net margin of 13.62%.The firm had revenue of $268.44 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $245.98 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.14 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 24.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Cognex has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.400-0.440 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Cognex Corporation will post 1.48 EPS for the current year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 21st were given a dividend of $0.085 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $0.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 40.48%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on CGNX shares. UBS Group set a $75.00 price objective on Cognex in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Cognex from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $65.00 to $75.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Stephens upped their price target on Cognex from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 price objective (up from $70.00) on shares of Cognex in a report on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on shares of Cognex from $67.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $72.31.

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.