Welch & Forbes LLC Sells 7,745 Shares of Cognex Corporation $CGNX

Welch & Forbes LLC reduced its stake in Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 2.3% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 322,893 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 7,745 shares during the quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Cognex were worth $15,819,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Cognex by 124.5% during the fourth quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 98,451 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $3,542,000 after purchasing an additional 54,600 shares in the last quarter. One Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cognex in the 4th quarter worth about $1,945,000. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in shares of Cognex by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,101,583 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $292,224,000 after buying an additional 76,212 shares during the last quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of Cognex by 23.7% during the 3rd quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC now owns 1,611,602 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $73,006,000 after buying an additional 308,687 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its position in shares of Cognex by 76.3% during the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 758,831 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $27,303,000 after buying an additional 328,427 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cognex news, insider Mark Fennell sold 64,873 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.05, for a total value of $4,349,734.65. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 11,263 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $755,184.15. The trade was a 85.21% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Darren Marc Long sold 20,252 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the vice president directly owned 3,990 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $264,696.60. This trade represents a 83.54% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 224,847 shares of company stock worth $14,975,098. 1.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on CGNX shares. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on Cognex from $67.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $75.00 price target (up from $64.00) on shares of Cognex in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Cognex in a research note on Friday, May 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 price objective (up from $70.00) on shares of Cognex in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Finally, UBS Group set a $75.00 price target on shares of Cognex in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Cognex presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $72.00.

Cognex Stock Performance

Cognex stock traded up $1.04 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $66.80. The company had a trading volume of 1,693,045 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,317,232. The firm has a market cap of $11.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 79.52 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $64.99 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $53.45. Cognex Corporation has a 1 year low of $32.55 and a 1 year high of $72.88.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.09. Cognex had a net margin of 13.62% and a return on equity of 10.89%. The business had revenue of $268.44 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $245.98 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.14 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 24.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Cognex has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.400-0.440 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Cognex Corporation will post 1.48 EPS for the current year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 21st were given a dividend of $0.085 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $0.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. Cognex’s payout ratio is 40.48%.

Cognex Company 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.