Analysts Set Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) Target Price at $69.36

Shares of Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $70.4286.

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CGNX. Zacks Research downgraded Cognex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Seaport Research Partners set a $75.00 price target on Cognex in a report on Tuesday. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $68.00 price target (up from $60.00) on shares of Cognex in a report on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Cognex in a report on Friday, May 15th. Finally, DA Davidson set a $62.00 price target on Cognex and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 14th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cognex news, VP Darren Marc Long sold 20,252 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.34, for a total value of $1,343,517.68. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 3,990 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 accessible through this link. Also, insider Mark Fennell sold 64,873 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.05, for a total value 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 position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 224,847 shares of company stock valued at $14,975,098. Insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC purchased a new position in Cognex in the first quarter worth $300,000. Front Street Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Cognex by 1.0% in the first quarter. Front Street Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,322,588 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $64,794,000 after purchasing an additional 13,293 shares during the last quarter. Essential Partners LLC boosted its position in Cognex by 12.5% in the first quarter. Essential Partners LLC now owns 2,153 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $105,000 after purchasing an additional 239 shares during the last quarter. Western Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Cognex in the first quarter worth $103,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in Cognex by 51.9% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 731,149 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $35,819,000 after purchasing an additional 249,877 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of Cognex stock opened at $65.85 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $56.97 and a 200 day simple moving average of $47.52. Cognex has a 12-month low of $29.22 and a 12-month high of $71.90. The company has a market capitalization of $10.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 78.39 and a beta of 1.48.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.09. Cognex had a return on equity of 10.89% and a net margin of 13.62%.The business 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 company posted $0.14 earnings per share. Cognex’s revenue was up 24.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Cognex has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.400-0.440 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Cognex will post 1.41 EPS for the current year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be given a $0.085 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $0.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. Cognex’s payout ratio is currently 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.