Bank of New York Mellon Corp Cuts Stock Position in Cognex Corporation $CGNX

Bank of New York Mellon Corp reduced its stake in Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 8.3% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,869,979 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 168,455 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings in Cognex were worth $91,610,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CGNX. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its stake in shares of Cognex by 173,138.2% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 10,477,448 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $376,979,000 after purchasing an additional 10,471,400 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Cognex in the fourth quarter valued at about $73,103,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Cognex in the fourth quarter valued at about $68,388,000. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Cognex by 18,810.9% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,794,649 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $56,657,000 after buying an additional 1,785,159 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its holdings in shares of Cognex by 27.9% during the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 7,013,184 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $252,360,000 after buying an additional 1,529,010 shares during the period. 88.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on CGNX shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 price target (up from $70.00) on shares of Cognex in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $72.00 price objective (up from $68.00) on shares of Cognex in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Zacks Research raised shares of Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. Finally, Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $75.00 target price (up from $64.00) on shares of Cognex in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Cognex has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $72.31.

Cognex Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CGNX opened at $62.94 on Wednesday. Cognex Corporation has a 1 year low of $33.45 and a 1 year high of $72.88. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $65.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $54.92. The firm has a market cap of $10.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 74.93 and a beta of 1.49.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.09. Cognex had a return on equity of 10.89% and a net margin of 13.62%.The firm had revenue of $268.44 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $245.98 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.14 earnings per share. Cognex’s revenue for the quarter 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, research analysts predict that Cognex Corporation will post 1.48 EPS for the current year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 21st. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.48%.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Darren Marc Long sold 20,252 shares of Cognex 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 approximately $264,696.60. The trade was a 83.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Mark Fennell sold 64,873 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.05, for a total transaction of $4,349,734.65. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 11,263 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $755,184.15. This trade represents a 85.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 224,847 shares of company stock worth $14,975,098. 1.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.