Handelsbanken Fonder AB Cuts Stock Holdings in Cognex Corporation $CGNX

Handelsbanken Fonder AB reduced its stake in Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 61.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 184,125 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 293,458 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB owned approximately 0.11% of Cognex worth $13,334,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of CGNX. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Cognex by 635.4% in the 2nd quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 478 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 413 shares in the last quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Cognex during the second quarter valued at about $45,000. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Cognex during the first quarter worth about $36,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted 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 worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 327 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in Cognex by 402.2% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 919 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 736 shares in the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on CGNX. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $91.00 target price on shares of Cognex in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Seaport Research Partners set a $75.00 price target on Cognex in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Zacks Research upgraded Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $74.00 price objective (up from $72.00) on shares of Cognex in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Stephens upped their price objective on Cognex from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $75.64.

Cognex Stock Up 1.5%

Shares of CGNX opened at $61.59 on Friday. Cognex Corporation has a twelve month low of $34.60 and a twelve month high of $72.88. The stock has a market cap of $10.36 billion, a PE ratio of 59.80 and a beta of 1.49. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $64.77 and its 200-day moving average price is $57.90.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.03. Cognex had a return on equity of 13.50% and a net margin of 16.05%.The company had revenue of $291.26 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $292.10 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.25 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.9% on a year-over-year basis. Cognex has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.640-1.680 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.500-0.540 EPS. Analysts expect that Cognex Corporation will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be issued a $0.085 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $0.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Cognex’s payout ratio is currently 33.01%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cognex

In related news, VP Darren Marc Long sold 20,252 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.34, for a total value of $1,343,517.68. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 3,990 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $264,696.60. The trade was a 83.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

About Cognex

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.