ProShare Advisors LLC Cuts Stock Position in Cognex Corporation $CGNX

ProShare Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 23.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 156,034 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 49,099 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in Cognex were worth $5,614,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. REAP Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cognex during the third quarter worth about $27,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 327 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of 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 worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 736 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Cognex by 207.6% during the third quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 935 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 631 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rothschild Investment LLC grew its stake in shares of Cognex by 21,060.0% during the third quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 1,058 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 1,053 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cognex

In other Cognex news, Director Angelos Papadimitriou sold 4,150 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.58, for a total value of $230,657.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 16,222 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $901,618.76. The trade was a 20.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Laura Ann Macdonald sold 98,122 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.80, for a total value of $6,554,549.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 5,258 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $351,234.40. The trade was a 94.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 208,745 shares of company stock valued at $13,862,237. 1.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on CGNX. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and set a $68.00 price target (up from $60.00) on shares of Cognex in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $75.00 target price on shares of Cognex in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of Cognex in a research report on Friday, February 13th. DA Davidson set a $62.00 target price on Cognex and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Cognex in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Cognex has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $69.36.

Cognex Stock Up 2.8%

Shares of NASDAQ CGNX opened at $66.09 on Friday. Cognex Corporation has a 52 week low of $29.00 and a 52 week high of $71.90. The firm has a market cap of $11.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 78.68 and a beta of 1.48. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $55.23 and its 200 day moving average price is $46.60.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.09. Cognex had a return on equity of 10.89% and a net margin of 13.62%.The company had revenue of $268.44 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $245.98 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.14 earnings per share. Cognex’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.3% on a year-over-year basis. Cognex has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.400-0.440 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Cognex Corporation will post 1.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be issued a $0.085 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $0.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. Cognex’s payout ratio is presently 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.