Needham & Company LLC Increases Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) Price Target to $67.00

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) had its price objective raised by stock analysts at Needham & Company LLC from $47.00 to $67.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 13.96% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on CGNX. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Cognex in a research note on Monday, December 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an “underweight” rating and set a $35.00 target price (down from $45.00) on shares of Cognex in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Barclays set a $54.00 price target on shares of Cognex and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $50.00 price target on shares of Cognex in a report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $58.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a research note on Friday, October 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $50.73.

Cognex Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of CGNX stock opened at $58.79 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $39.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.48. 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 has a 12-month low of $22.67 and a 12-month high of $59.88.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Laura Ann Macdonald sold 14,881 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.16, for a total value of $850,597.96. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 2,212 shares in the company, valued at $126,437.92. This represents a 87.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert Willett sold 177,052 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.39, for a total value of $10,338,066.28. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quent Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cognex during the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. REAP Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Cognex in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its stake in Cognex by 74.8% in the 3rd quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 764 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 327 shares during the period. First Horizon Corp acquired a new position in Cognex in the 3rd quarter valued at $38,000. Finally, TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Cognex during the 2nd quarter worth $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Cognex News Roundup

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

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.