SG Americas Securities LLC Sells 49,452 Shares of Cognex Corporation $CGNX

SG Americas Securities LLC cut its position in Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 17.1% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 240,572 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 49,452 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Cognex were worth $11,786,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Royal Bank of Canada increased its holdings in shares of Cognex by 13.2% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 200,351 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $5,976,000 after buying an additional 23,326 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cognex in the 1st quarter worth approximately $291,000. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 24.1% in the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 47,444 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,415,000 after acquiring an additional 9,223 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in Cognex by 402.2% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 919 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 736 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers grew its position in Cognex by 7.5% during the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 13,208 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $419,000 after acquiring an additional 920 shares during the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cognex news, insider Mark Fennell sold 64,873 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 11,263 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $755,184.15. The trade was a 85.21% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Laura Ann Macdonald sold 41,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.56, for a total transaction of $2,727,296.00. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 5,258 shares in the company, valued at approximately $344,714.48. The trade was a 88.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 224,847 shares of company stock worth $14,975,098 over the last three months. 1.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on CGNX shares. UBS Group set a $75.00 price objective on Cognex in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Cognex in a report on Friday, May 15th. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $75.00 target price (up from $64.00) on shares of Cognex in a research note on Monday, May 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 price target (up from $70.00) on shares of Cognex in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $72.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a report on Friday, May 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.43.

Cognex Price Performance

CGNX stock opened at $66.56 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $62.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $51.28. Cognex Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $31.19 and a fifty-two week high of $71.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.08 billion, a PE ratio of 79.24 and a beta of 1.52.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $268.44 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.14 EPS. Cognex has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.400-0.440 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Cognex Corporation will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 21st were issued a $0.085 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $0.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 40.48%.

Cognex 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.