Pallas Capital Advisors LLC Takes Position in Cognex Corporation $CGNX

Pallas Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 16,855 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $535,000.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Cognex by 402.2% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 919 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 736 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Cognex by 439.4% in the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 971 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 791 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Cognex by 155.3% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,062 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 646 shares during the period. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its holdings in Cognex by 231.9% in the 2nd quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,082 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 756 shares during the period. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in Cognex by 105.5% in the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,280 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 657 shares during the period. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cognex news, EVP Sheila Marie Dipalma sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.03, for a total transaction of $90,060.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 6,582 shares in the company, valued at $296,387.46. The trade was a 23.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Cognex Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ CGNX opened at $46.48 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.47 and a beta of 1.50. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $40.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $33.49. Cognex Corporation has a 52 week low of $22.67 and a 52 week high of $46.52.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.02. Cognex had a net margin of 13.13% and a return on equity of 6.65%. The firm had revenue of $249.09 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $246.70 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.23 earnings per share. Cognex’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Cognex has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 0.240-0.290 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Cognex Corporation will post 0.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 14th were issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 14th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 45.07%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $37.00 price target (up previously from $30.00) on shares of Cognex in a research note on Monday, July 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Cognex from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Cognex from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, June 16th. DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of Cognex from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, KeyCorp upgraded shares of Cognex from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $50.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cognex has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.07.

About Cognex

Cognex Corporation provides machine vision products that capture and analyze visual information to automate manufacturing and distribution tasks worldwide. Its machine vision products are used to automate the manufacturing and tracking of discrete items, including mobile phones, electric vehicle batteries, and e-commerce packages by locating, identifying, inspecting, and measuring them during the manufacturing or distribution process.