Cognex Corporation $CGNX Shares Sold by Ensign Peak Advisors Inc

Ensign Peak Advisors Inc cut its stake in Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 31.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 682,188 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 319,509 shares during the period. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc owned 0.41% of Cognex worth $21,639,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Cognex in the 2nd quarter worth about $29,000. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its stake in Cognex by 7.5% in the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 13,208 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $419,000 after purchasing an additional 920 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Cognex by 66.5% in the second quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 78,976 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $2,505,000 after buying an additional 31,532 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning raised its stake in Cognex by 49.1% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 62,525 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,983,000 after buying an additional 20,587 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS raised its stake in Cognex by 6.2% during the second quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 43,130 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,368,000 after buying an additional 2,525 shares in the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Sheila Marie Dipalma sold 2,002 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.00, for a total transaction of $90,090.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 8,582 shares in the company, valued at $386,190. The trade was a 18.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert Willett sold 6,704 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.51, for a total transaction of $331,915.04. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 10,706 shares of company stock worth $512,065 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on CGNX. Robert W. Baird set a $45.00 target price on Cognex in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Cognex in a report on Thursday, November 13th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $58.00 target price on shares of Cognex in a research note on Friday, October 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Cognex from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on shares of Cognex in a research report on Monday, September 15th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $45.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $46.20.

Cognex Trading Up 5.8%

NASDAQ CGNX opened at $36.89 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $43.41 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.25. The stock has a market cap of $6.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.64 and a beta of 1.52. Cognex Corporation has a 52 week low of $22.67 and a 52 week high of $49.76.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.06. Cognex had a return on equity of 8.26% and a net margin of 11.33%.The business had revenue of $264.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $261.86 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.20 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 18.0% on a year-over-year basis. Cognex has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 0.190-0.24 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Cognex Corporation will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 13th will be paid a $0.085 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 13th. This is a positive change from Cognex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $0.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 53.13%.

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.