Cognex Corporation $CGNX Position Boosted by Daiwa Securities Group Inc.

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 3.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 265,268 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,980 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. owned approximately 0.16% of Cognex worth $9,544,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in CGNX. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 13.2% during 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 buying an additional 23,326 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cognex during the 1st quarter valued at about $291,000. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 24.1% during the 1st 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 last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 402.2% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 919 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 736 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 7.5% during the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 13,208 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $419,000 after buying an additional 920 shares during the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cognex

In other Cognex news, insider Mark Fennell sold 64,873 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.05, for a total value of $4,349,734.65. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 11,263 shares in the company, valued at $755,184.15. This represents a 85.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Darren Marc Long sold 20,252 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.34, for a total value of $1,343,517.68. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 3,990 shares in the company, valued at $264,696.60. This trade represents a 83.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 224,847 shares of company stock worth $14,975,098 over the last three months. Company insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on CGNX. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $68.00 price target (up from $60.00) on shares of Cognex in a report on Friday, May 8th. UBS Group set a $75.00 price target on Cognex in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Zacks Research lowered Cognex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $80.00 target price (up from $70.00) on shares of Cognex in a report on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $63.00 target price on shares of Cognex in a report on Friday, February 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $70.43.

Cognex Trading Down 6.0%

CGNX opened at $60.82 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $10.12 billion, a PE ratio of 72.40 and a beta of 1.52. Cognex Corporation has a 1 year low of $29.22 and a 1 year high of $71.90. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $58.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $48.45.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $268.44 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $245.98 million. Cognex had a return on equity of 10.89% and a net margin of 13.62%.Cognex’s quarterly revenue was up 24.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.14 earnings per share. Cognex has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.400-0.440 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Cognex Corporation will post 1.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 21st were given a $0.085 dividend. This represents a $0.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 21st. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is 40.48%.

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.