Strs Ohio Increases Position in Cognex Corporation $CGNX

Strs Ohio lifted its holdings in shares of Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 4,289.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 176,012 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after acquiring an additional 172,002 shares during the quarter. Strs Ohio owned 0.10% of Cognex worth $7,973,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in Cognex by 13.2% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 200,351 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $5,976,000 after purchasing an additional 23,326 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cognex in the 1st quarter worth about $291,000. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its position in Cognex by 24.1% during the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 47,444 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,415,000 after buying an additional 9,223 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings 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 worth $27,000 after buying an additional 736 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its position in Cognex by 215.5% in the second quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 50,684 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,648,000 after acquiring an additional 34,617 shares during the period. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on CGNX. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Cognex in a research report on Monday, December 29th. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a report on Friday, October 31st. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on Cognex from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. DA Davidson set a $38.00 price target on Cognex and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, 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 note on Tuesday, December 16th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $45.64.

Cognex Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CGNX opened at $39.80 on Monday. Cognex Corporation has a 52-week low of $22.67 and a 52-week high of $49.76. The business’s fifty day moving average is $37.71 and its 200 day moving average is $40.63. The firm has a market cap of $6.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.19 and a beta of 1.52.

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

Cognex Increases Dividend

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