Robert Willett Sells 177,052 Shares of Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) Stock

Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) Director Robert Willett sold 177,052 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.39, for a total transaction of $10,338,066.28. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Cognex Stock Up 0.2%

NASDAQ CGNX opened at $58.79 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $9.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 87.75 and a beta of 1.53. Cognex Corporation has a twelve month low of $22.67 and a twelve month high of $59.88. The business’s fifty day moving average is $39.44 and its 200 day moving average is $41.53.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.05. Cognex had a return on equity of 9.02% and a net margin of 11.51%.The firm had revenue of $252.34 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $238.92 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.16 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Cognex Corporation will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 26th will be issued a dividend of $0.085 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 26th. This represents a $0.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.75%.

Key Headlines Impacting Cognex

Here are the key news stories impacting Cognex this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 earnings beat and revenue growth — Cognex reported $0.27 EPS vs. $0.22 expected and revenue of $252.3M (up ~10% YoY); the stronger-than-expected results and margin improvement were the primary upward catalyst. Earnings Beat
• Positive Sentiment: Raised Q1 guidance — management gave Q1 EPS and revenue guidance above Street estimates (EPS guide 0.220–0.260 vs. consensus ~0.200), supporting the outlook for continued recovery. Guidance & Call
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst upgrade / price target lift — Needham raised its target from $47 to $67 and kept a Buy rating, reinforcing the bullish narrative and adding buy-side momentum. Analyst Raise
• Positive Sentiment: Dividend and shareholder-friendly actions mentioned on the call — Cognex declared a quarterly dividend and discussed portfolio optimization and buyback/dividend moves that support shareholder returns. Dividend & Call Highlights
• Neutral Sentiment: Positive press and commentary — multiple outlets (Seeking Alpha, Motley Fool, Benzinga) published bullish takes on the turnaround and long-term returns; useful for sentiment but reiterative. Feature Article
• Neutral Sentiment: Short interest reporting shows no meaningful short positions in the available data (entries report zero/NaN), so short-squeeze pressure appears unlikely based on current figures.
• Negative Sentiment: Large insider sales — Director Robert Willett sold ~177k shares (~$10.3M) and VP Laura Macdonald sold ~14.9k shares (~$850k). Big insider dispositions can temper sentiment even after strong results. Insider Filings
• Negative Sentiment: Emerging AI regulation risk — Cognex added a regulatory risk disclosure related to rising AI rules that could increase compliance costs and pressure margins over time. AI Regulation Risk

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cognex

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its holdings in Cognex by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 22,907 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $824,000 after purchasing an additional 234 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its stake in shares of Cognex by 12.9% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 2,132 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $68,000 after buying an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its holdings in Cognex by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 14,611 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $662,000 after buying an additional 256 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Cognex by 10.6% in the 2nd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 2,788 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $88,000 after buying an additional 268 shares during the period. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System grew its stake in Cognex by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 49,651 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $2,249,000 after buying an additional 285 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Cognex in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on Cognex from $47.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of Cognex in a research report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $35.00 price target (down previously from $45.00) on shares of Cognex in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Cognex from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $42.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $50.73.

Cognex Company 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.