Welch & Forbes LLC Sells 8,479 Shares of Cognex Corporation $CGNX

Welch & Forbes LLC cut its holdings in Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 2.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 330,638 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 8,479 shares during the period. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Cognex were worth $11,896,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of CGNX. REAP Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Cognex during the third quarter valued at $27,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in Cognex by 402.2% during 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 purchasing an additional 736 shares during the period. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its holdings in Cognex by 74.8% during the third quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 764 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 327 shares during the period. Miller Global Investments LLC bought a new position in Cognex during the fourth quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Cognex by 202.7% during the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,105 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 740 shares during the period. 88.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Cognex Price Performance

NASDAQ:CGNX opened at $65.85 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $10.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 78.39 and a beta of 1.48. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $56.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $47.52. Cognex Corporation has a 1 year low of $29.22 and a 1 year high of $71.90.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last posted its 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. The firm had revenue of $268.44 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $245.98 million. Cognex had a return on equity of 10.89% and a net margin of 13.62%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 24.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.14 earnings per share. Cognex has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.400-0.440 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Cognex Corporation will post 1.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be given a dividend of $0.085 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $0.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 40.48%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cognex news, insider Mark Fennell sold 64,873 shares of the 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 sale, the insider owned 11,263 shares in the company, valued at $755,184.15. This represents a 85.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Darren Marc Long sold 20,252 shares of the 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 sale, the vice president owned 3,990 shares in the company, valued at approximately $264,696.60. This represents a 83.54% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 224,847 shares of company stock worth $14,975,098 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on CGNX. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $70.00 price objective (up from $50.00) on shares of Cognex in a report on Friday, February 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $75.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Robert W. Baird set a $72.00 price objective on Cognex in a report on Friday, May 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Cognex from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $65.00 to $75.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on Cognex from $67.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $70.43.

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.