Creative Planning Buys 20,587 Shares of Cognex Corporation $CGNX

Creative Planning increased its stake in shares of Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 49.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 62,525 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after buying an additional 20,587 shares during the quarter. Creative Planning’s holdings in Cognex were worth $1,983,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Cognex Stock Up 1.7%

Cognex stock opened at $37.76 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $6.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.00 and a beta of 1.52. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $43.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $38.51. Cognex Corporation has a 52 week low of $22.67 and a 52 week high of $49.76.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $264.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $261.86 million. Cognex had a net margin of 11.33% and a return on equity of 8.26%. The firm’s revenue was up 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.20 EPS. Cognex has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 0.190-0.24 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Cognex Corporation will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognex Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 13th will be paid a $0.085 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 13th. This is a boost from Cognex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $0.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Cognex’s payout ratio is 53.13%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CGNX has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $50.00 target price on shares of Cognex in a research note on Friday, October 31st. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $58.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Cognex in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Cognex from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on shares of Cognex from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.20.

Insider Transactions at Cognex

In related news, EVP Sheila Marie Dipalma sold 2,002 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.00, for a total value of $90,090.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 8,582 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $386,190. This represents a 18.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Robert Willett sold 6,704 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.51, for a total transaction of $331,915.04. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 10,706 shares of company stock worth $512,065. 1.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.