Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC Sells 14,529 Shares of Cognex Corporation $CGNX

Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC lowered its position in shares of Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 47.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,352 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 14,529 shares during the quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Cognex were worth $801,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Cognex by 124.5% in the 4th quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 98,451 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $3,542,000 after purchasing an additional 54,600 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Cognex by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,101,583 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $292,224,000 after purchasing an additional 76,212 shares during the period. One Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Cognex in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,945,000. DAVENPORT & Co LLC increased its holdings in Cognex by 19.1% in the fourth quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 477,658 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $17,186,000 after purchasing an additional 76,540 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its stake in Cognex by 76.3% in the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 758,831 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $27,303,000 after buying an additional 328,427 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on CGNX shares. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and set a $68.00 target price (up from $60.00) on shares of Cognex in a report on Friday, May 8th. UBS Group set a $75.00 price target on shares of Cognex in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on shares of Cognex from $67.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $70.43.

Insider Activity at Cognex

In other Cognex news, 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 transaction, the vice president directly owned 3,990 shares in the company, valued at $264,696.60. The trade was a 83.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Mark Fennell sold 64,873 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.05, for a total transaction of $4,349,734.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 11,263 shares in the company, valued at approximately $755,184.15. This represents a 85.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 224,847 shares of company stock worth $14,975,098. Company insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Stock Performance

Shares of Cognex stock opened at $66.56 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $62.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $51.28. Cognex Corporation has a 52-week low of $31.19 and a 52-week high of $71.90. The firm has a market cap of $11.08 billion, a PE ratio of 79.24 and a beta of 1.52.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.09. Cognex had a net margin of 13.62% and a return on equity of 10.89%. The company had revenue of $268.44 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $245.98 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.14 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 24.3% on a year-over-year basis. Cognex has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.400-0.440 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Cognex Corporation will post 1.49 EPS for the current year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 21st were paid a $0.085 dividend. This represents a $0.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 21st. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is 40.48%.

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.