Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) Receives “Underweight” Rating from JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed their underweight rating on shares of Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) in a report issued on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have a $35.00 price objective on the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, down from their prior price objective of $45.00.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on CGNX. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Truist Financial set a $45.00 price target on shares of Cognex and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Needham & Company LLC raised 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. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $58.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Finally, DA Davidson set a $38.00 target price on shares of Cognex and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $45.53.

Cognex Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:CGNX opened at $37.69 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.89 and a beta of 1.53. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $42.21 and its 200-day moving average price is $38.73. Cognex has a 12-month low of $22.67 and a 12-month high of $49.76.

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

Cognex Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 13th were given a dividend of $0.085 per share. 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%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 13th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 53.13%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Robert Willett sold 6,704 shares of the company’s 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 filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Sheila Marie Dipalma sold 2,002 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.00, for a total transaction of $90,090.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 8,582 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $386,190. The trade was a 18.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 10,706 shares of company stock valued at $512,065. 1.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cognex

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Quent Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cognex during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. REAP Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Cognex during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in Cognex by 402.2% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 919 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 736 shares during the last quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Cognex during the second quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. bought a new stake in Cognex in the second quarter worth $29,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

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.