Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Boosts Stake in Cognex Corporation $CGNX

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,422,366 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,608 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in Cognex were worth $45,117,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CGNX. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in shares of Cognex by 148.5% in the second quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,075,772 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $223,594,000 after purchasing an additional 4,228,729 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of Cognex by 126.2% in the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 4,609,802 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $137,510,000 after purchasing an additional 2,571,457 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Cognex by 32.0% in the first quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,082,319 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $181,436,000 after purchasing an additional 1,474,832 shares during the last quarter. ING Groep NV purchased a new position in shares of Cognex in the first quarter worth $22,191,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Cognex by 34.3% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,539,557 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $75,756,000 after purchasing an additional 647,955 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Cognex

In other news, EVP Sheila Marie Dipalma sold 2,002 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.00, for a total value of $90,090.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 8,582 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $386,190. This represents a 18.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert Willett sold 6,704 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.51, for a total value of $331,915.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 10,706 shares of company stock valued at $512,065. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Cognex from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on Cognex in a research report on Monday, September 15th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $45.00 price objective for the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Cognex in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Cognex from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Barclays set a $55.00 price objective on Cognex and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Cognex has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.93.

Cognex Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of CGNX opened at $48.28 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $45.23 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $36.49. The stock has a market cap of $8.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 68.00 and a beta of 1.50. Cognex Corporation has a 52 week low of $22.67 and a 52 week high of $49.76.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $249.09 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $246.70 million. Cognex had a return on equity of 6.65% and a net margin of 13.13%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.23 earnings per share. Cognex has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 0.240-0.290 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Cognex Corporation will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 14th were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 14th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is 45.07%.

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.