Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the seventeen research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eleven have given a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $70.4286.

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on CGNX shares. DA Davidson set a $62.00 price objective on Cognex and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. UBS Group set a $75.00 target price on Cognex in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Wall Street Zen raised Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Truist Financial set a $61.00 target price on Cognex and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $68.00 target price (up from $60.00) on shares of Cognex in a report on Friday, May 8th.

Insider Activity at Cognex

In related news, VP Darren Marc Long sold 20,252 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.34, for a total value of $1,343,517.68. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 3,990 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $264,696.60. This represents a 83.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Mark Fennell sold 64,873 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.05, for a total value of $4,349,734.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 11,263 shares in the company, valued at $755,184.15. This trade represents a 85.21% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 224,847 shares of company stock valued at $14,975,098 over the last quarter. 1.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cognex

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Cognex by 2.1% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,598,728 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $842,522,000 after acquiring an additional 374,999 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its stake in Cognex by 173,138.2% in the fourth 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 acquiring an additional 10,471,400 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in Cognex by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,101,583 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $292,224,000 after acquiring an additional 76,212 shares in the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA boosted its stake in Cognex by 27.9% in the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 7,013,184 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $252,360,000 after acquiring an additional 1,529,010 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Cognex by 31.0% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,314,896 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $191,231,000 after acquiring an additional 1,258,629 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Trading Down 0.5%

Cognex stock opened at $63.64 on Thursday. Cognex has a twelve month low of $30.51 and a twelve month high of $71.90. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $61.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $50.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 75.76 and a beta of 1.52.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $268.44 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $245.98 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.14 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 24.3% on a year-over-year basis. Cognex has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.400-0.440 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Cognex will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 21st were issued a $0.085 dividend. This represents a $0.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 21st. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is 40.48%.

Cognex Company 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.