Research Analysts Set Expectations for Cognex Q1 Earnings

Cognex Co. (NASDAQ:CGNX) – Analysts at DA Davidson issued their Q1 2025 EPS estimates for Cognex in a research note issued on Wednesday, February 19th. DA Davidson analyst M. Summerville expects that the scientific and technical instruments company will post earnings of $0.05 per share for the quarter. The consensus estimate for Cognex’s current full-year earnings is $0.64 per share. DA Davidson also issued estimates for Cognex’s FY2026 earnings at $0.84 EPS.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Cognex from $58.00 to $56.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Cognex to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Needham & Company LLC lowered their price target on shares of Cognex from $47.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $37.00 price target (down previously from $43.00) on shares of Cognex in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price target on shares of Cognex from $44.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cognex currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.42.

Cognex Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CGNX opened at $33.64 on Thursday. Cognex has a 1-year low of $32.41 and a 1-year high of $53.13. The company has a market capitalization of $5.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.15 and a beta of 1.40. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $37.52 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $38.81.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.15 by ($0.01). Cognex had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 5.65%.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 27th will be paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 27th. Cognex’s payout ratio is 52.46%.

Insider Activity at Cognex

In related news, CTO Joerg Kuechen sold 2,934 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.75, for a total transaction of $110,758.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Anthony Sun sold 26,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.03, for a total transaction of $1,040,780.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 26,608 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,065,118.24. The trade was a 49.42 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CGNX. Creative Planning increased its position in Cognex by 2.4% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 21,919 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $888,000 after acquiring an additional 512 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its position in Cognex by 5.9% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 19,929 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $807,000 after acquiring an additional 1,110 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in Cognex by 719.2% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,171 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $88,000 after acquiring an additional 1,906 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates increased its position in Cognex by 25.1% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 474,163 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $19,204,000 after acquiring an additional 95,063 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC bought a new position in Cognex during the third quarter valued at $283,000. Institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

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.