Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp Takes Position in Cognex Corporation $CGNX

Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp acquired a new position in Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 2,969 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $94,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Cognex by 10.6% during the second quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 2,788 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $88,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Cognex by 31.5% during the 2nd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,277 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 306 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd lifted its position in shares of Cognex by 17.6% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,223 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $66,000 after buying an additional 332 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Cognex by 3.5% during the 1st quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 11,591 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $346,000 after acquiring an additional 397 shares during the period. Finally, Voya Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Cognex by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 24,301 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $725,000 after acquiring an additional 432 shares in the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Cognex Stock Down 1.8%

CGNX opened at $38.58 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.47 billion, a PE ratio of 60.28 and a beta of 1.52. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $44.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.81. Cognex Corporation has a 52 week low of $22.67 and a 52 week high of $49.76.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $276.89 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $261.86 million. Cognex had a return on equity of 8.26% and a net margin of 11.33%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.20 earnings per share. Cognex has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 0.190-0.24 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Cognex Corporation will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognex Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 13th will be given a dividend of $0.085 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 13th. This represents a $0.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. This is an increase from Cognex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 53.13%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Robert Willett sold 6,704 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.51, for a total value of $331,915.04. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Sheila Marie Dipalma sold 2,002 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.00, for a total transaction of $90,090.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 8,582 shares in the company, valued at approximately $386,190. The trade was a 18.92% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 10,706 shares of company stock valued at $512,065. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on CGNX shares. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $58.00 price target on shares of Cognex in a report on Friday, October 31st. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Cognex in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Truist Financial set a $45.00 target price on shares of Cognex and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Robert W. Baird set a $45.00 price target on Cognex in a report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on Cognex from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Cognex presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.20.

Cognex Profile

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.