Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) Stock Falls 7.3% – Time to Sell?

Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) shares traded down 7.3% during mid-day trading on Wednesday. The company traded as low as $62.22 and last traded at $61.51. Approximately 135,200 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 94% from the average daily volume of 2,125,512 shares. The stock had previously closed at $66.35.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on CGNX shares. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 price target on shares of Cognex in a report on Tuesday, September 15th. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and set a $65.00 target price on shares of Cognex in a research note on Wednesday, September 23rd. Zacks Research raised Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $91.00 target price on shares of Cognex in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price target on shares of Cognex from $76.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $75.21.

Cognex Stock Down 7.1%

The company has a market capitalization of $10.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.80 and a beta of 1.48. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $62.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $61.12.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.03. Cognex had a net margin of 16.05% and a return on equity of 13.50%. The company had revenue of $291.26 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $292.10 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.25 earnings per share. Cognex’s revenue was up 16.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Cognex has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.640-1.680 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.500-0.540 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Cognex Corporation will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 20th were given a dividend of $0.0850 per share. This represents a $0.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 20th. Cognex’s payout ratio is 33.01%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cognex

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CGNX. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Cognex in the second quarter worth about $1,158,123,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in shares of Cognex by 81.0% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,660,411 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $130,320,000 after purchasing an additional 1,190,434 shares in the last quarter. Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cognex in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $161,425,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in shares of Cognex by 115.6% in the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,033,091 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $99,601,000 after purchasing an additional 1,090,092 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in shares of Cognex in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $129,348,000. Institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

About Cognex

Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ: CGNX) develops machine vision products and technologies that help businesses automate manufacturing, logistics and other industrial processes. Its systems enable machines to inspect, identify, measure and guide products, components and materials with limited human intervention.

The company’s product portfolio includes industrial vision cameras, vision sensors, image-based barcode readers, three-dimensional vision systems and software for image processing and analysis.