Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) Reaches New 12-Month High – Here’s What Happened

Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) shares reached a new 52-week high on Monday . The stock traded as high as $47.81 and last traded at $47.40, with a volume of 129974 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $46.04.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on CGNX. Melius upgraded shares of Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Cognex from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Needham & Company LLC increased their target price on Cognex from $36.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Cognex from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $50.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $37.00 price target (up previously from $30.00) on shares of Cognex in a report on Monday, July 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Cognex currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.93.

Cognex Price Performance

The company’s 50-day moving average price is $44.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $35.76. The company has a market cap of $8.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 67.99 and a beta of 1.50.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $249.09 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $246.70 million. Cognex had a net margin of 13.13% and a return on equity of 6.65%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.23 EPS. Cognex has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 0.240-0.290 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Cognex Corporation will post 0.61 EPS for the current year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 14th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 14th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is 45.07%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Sheila Marie Dipalma sold 2,002 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.00, for a total transaction of $90,090.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 8,582 shares in the company, valued at approximately $386,190. This represents a 18.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cognex

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. acquired a new position in Cognex during the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Penserra Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cognex in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Cognex by 402.2% in the first 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 in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Cognex by 439.4% during the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 971 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 791 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Cognex by 155.3% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,062 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 646 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

About Cognex

Cognex Corporation provides machine vision products that capture and analyze visual information to automate manufacturing and distribution tasks worldwide. Its machine vision products are used to automate the manufacturing and tracking of discrete items, including mobile phones, electric vehicle batteries, and e-commerce packages by locating, identifying, inspecting, and measuring them during the manufacturing or distribution process.