Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) have received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $72.3077.

CGNX has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on shares of Cognex from $67.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Cognex in a report on Friday, May 15th. Finally, DA Davidson set a $62.00 price objective on shares of Cognex and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 14th.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Darren Marc Long sold 20,252 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the vice president directly owned 3,990 shares in the company, valued at approximately $264,696.60. This represents a 83.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Laura Ann Macdonald sold 98,122 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.80, for a total value of $6,554,549.60. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 5,258 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $351,234.40. The trade was a 94.91% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 224,847 shares of company stock valued at $14,975,098. 1.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cognex

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CGNX. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its stake in shares of Cognex by 173,138.2% in 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 acquiring an additional 10,471,400 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Cognex during the 4th quarter worth approximately $73,103,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Cognex during the 4th quarter worth approximately $68,388,000. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Cognex by 18,810.9% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,794,649 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $56,657,000 after purchasing an additional 1,785,159 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its holdings 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 valued at $252,360,000 after purchasing an additional 1,529,010 shares during the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Cognex Price Performance

NASDAQ:CGNX opened at $64.07 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 76.27 and a beta of 1.49. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $65.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $54.54. Cognex has a 1 year low of $33.45 and a 1 year high of $72.88.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $245.98 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.14 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter 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 expect that Cognex will post 1.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

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

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.