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

Shares of Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have assigned a hold recommendation, eight have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $46.20.

A number of analysts have weighed in on CGNX shares. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Cognex from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 16th. Robert W. Baird set a $45.00 target price on shares of Cognex in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on Cognex from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Cognex in a report on Tuesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on Cognex in a report on Monday, September 15th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $45.00 price objective on the stock.

Cognex Stock Down 0.0%

CGNX opened at $38.21 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $42.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $38.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.70 and a beta of 1.52. Cognex has a 12-month low of $22.67 and a 12-month 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 for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $264.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $261.86 million. Cognex had a return on equity of 8.26% and a net margin of 11.33%.Cognex’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior 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, analysts anticipate that Cognex will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognex Increases Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Cognex

In related news, Director Robert Willett sold 6,704 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.51, for a total value of $331,915.04. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Sheila Marie Dipalma sold 2,000 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.03, for a total value of $90,060.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly 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 SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 10,706 shares of company stock worth $512,065. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cognex

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in Cognex by 148.5% in the second quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,075,772 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $223,594,000 after buying an additional 4,228,729 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cognex by 18,810.9% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,794,649 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $56,657,000 after buying an additional 1,785,159 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Cognex by 32.0% in the first quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,082,319 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $181,436,000 after acquiring an additional 1,474,832 shares during the last quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Cognex in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $45,723,000. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Cognex in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $38,889,000. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Cognex Company 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.