16,007 Shares in Cognex Corporation $CGNX Purchased by Altfest L J & Co. Inc.

Altfest L J & Co. Inc. bought a new position in Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 16,007 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $725,000.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in Cognex by 402.2% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 919 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 736 shares during the period. Penserra Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cognex in the second quarter valued at $29,000. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Cognex in the second quarter worth $29,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its holdings in shares of Cognex by 231.9% during the second quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,082 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 756 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its position 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 valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 306 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Trading Up 2.6%

NASDAQ:CGNX opened at $36.93 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.19 billion, a PE ratio of 57.70 and a beta of 1.52. Cognex Corporation has a 1 year low of $22.67 and a 1 year high of $49.76. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $38.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $39.72.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 net margin of 11.33% and a return on equity of 8.26%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company 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 Corporation will post 0.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Increases Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of Cognex from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 18th. DA Davidson set a $38.00 target price on shares of Cognex and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on Cognex from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised Cognex from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $42.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 16th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $45.79.

Insider Activity at Cognex

In other news, Director Robert Willett sold 6,704 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Cognex Profile

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.