Cognex Corporation $CGNX Shares Sold by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. cut its stake in shares of Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 79.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 109,961 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 434,442 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned approximately 0.07% of Cognex worth $4,981,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Cognex in the third quarter worth approximately $1,102,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cognex by 10.5% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,837 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $174,000 after purchasing an additional 366 shares in the last quarter. Praxis Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cognex during the 3rd quarter worth $217,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Cognex by 12.3% during the second quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 18,369 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $583,000 after purchasing an additional 2,008 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Texas Permanent School Fund Corp increased its holdings in Cognex by 27.9% in the second quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 135,357 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $4,294,000 after buying an additional 29,509 shares during the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird set a $45.00 price target on Cognex in a report on Friday, October 31st. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $50.00 target price on shares of Cognex in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and set a $56.00 target price (up previously from $55.00) on shares of Cognex in a research note on Friday, October 31st. DA Davidson set a $38.00 price target on shares of Cognex and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $58.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a report on Friday, October 31st. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $45.79.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cognex news, Director Robert Willett sold 6,704 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 21st. The stock was 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 SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Cognex Trading Up 1.7%

CGNX stock opened at $36.80 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.50 and a beta of 1.53. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $39.37. Cognex Corporation has a twelve month low of $22.67 and a twelve month high of $49.76.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.06. Cognex had a net margin of 11.33% and a return on equity of 8.26%. The business had revenue of $264.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $261.86 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.20 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Cognex has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 0.190-0.24 EPS. Research analysts predict that Cognex Corporation will post 0.61 EPS for the current fiscal 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 issued a $0.085 dividend. The ex-dividend date was 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 payout ratio is currently 53.13%.

About Cognex

Cognex Corporation is a leading provider of machine vision systems, software, sensors and industrial barcode readers used to automate manufacturing, logistics and distribution processes. The company designs and develops vision-based products that help manufacturers and logistics operators inspect, identify and guide parts, assemblies and packaged goods in real time. Its solutions are applied in a broad range of industries, including automotive, electronics, semiconductor, pharmaceutical, food and beverage, and general manufacturing.

The company’s product portfolio includes stand-alone vision systems, vision sensors and deep learning-based software platforms that enable automated inspection, quality control and traceability.