Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) Director Robert Willett Sells 6,704 Shares

Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) Director Robert Willett sold 6,704 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.51, for a total value of $331,915.04. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Cognex Trading Down 4.1%

CGNX stock opened at $46.29 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $44.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $35.83. Cognex Corporation has a 1-year low of $22.67 and a 1-year high of $49.76. The firm has a market cap of $7.77 billion, a PE ratio of 65.20 and a beta of 1.50.

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

Cognex Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CGNX has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $37.00 price objective (up from $30.00) on shares of Cognex in a research note on Monday, July 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Cognex from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on Cognex in a research note on Monday, September 15th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $45.00 price objective on the stock. Melius raised Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, KeyCorp raised Cognex from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $50.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.93.

Institutional Trading of Cognex

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its stake in shares of Cognex by 51.3% in the first quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 48,640 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,451,000 after purchasing an additional 16,489 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Cognex by 155.3% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,062 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 646 shares during the last quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Cognex by 7.4% in the first quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,698 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $230,000 after purchasing an additional 532 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in shares of Cognex by 148.5% in the second quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,075,772 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $223,594,000 after purchasing an additional 4,228,729 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Scientech Research LLC raised its stake in shares of Cognex by 93.8% in the first quarter. Scientech Research LLC now owns 29,828 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $890,000 after purchasing an additional 14,434 shares during the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.