Baillie Gifford & Co. Lowers Holdings in Cognex Corporation $CGNX

Baillie Gifford & Co. lowered its stake in shares of Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 13.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,008,383 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 160,609 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co. owned about 0.60% of Cognex worth $45,680,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in shares of Cognex by 13.4% during the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,025,371 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $361,382,000 after purchasing an additional 949,599 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its position in Cognex by 121.5% during the second quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 12,990 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $412,000 after buying an additional 7,126 shares during the period. Creative Planning grew its position in Cognex by 49.1% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 62,525 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,983,000 after buying an additional 20,587 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors purchased a new position in Cognex in the second quarter valued at $204,000. Finally, Stephens Investment Management Group LLC increased its holdings in Cognex by 10.6% in the third quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 1,100,446 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $49,850,000 after buying an additional 105,452 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. DA Davidson set a $38.00 target price on Cognex and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Cognex from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $42.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 16th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Cognex in a research report on Monday, December 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $35.00 target price (down from $45.00) on shares of Cognex in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $45.00 target price on Cognex in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $45.64.

Cognex Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CGNX opened at $39.80 on Friday. Cognex Corporation has a 1 year low of $22.67 and a 1 year high of $49.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.67 billion, a PE ratio of 62.19 and a beta of 1.52. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $37.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $40.57.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.06. Cognex had a return on equity of 8.26% and a net margin of 11.33%.The firm had revenue of $264.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $261.86 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.20 EPS. The firm’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. As a group, analysts expect that Cognex Corporation will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognex Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 13th were paid a $0.085 dividend. This is an increase 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 of this dividend was Thursday, November 13th. Cognex’s payout ratio is 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.