Analysts Set Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) Target Price at $72.31

Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the seventeen analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, ten have assigned a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $75.6429.

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $91.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Stephens lifted their price target on shares of Cognex from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $80.00 price target (up from $75.00) on shares of Cognex in a report on Monday. Seaport Research Partners set a $75.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Cognex from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $65.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cognex news, VP Darren Marc Long sold 20,252 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.34, for a total transaction of $1,343,517.68. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 3,990 shares in the company, valued at $264,696.60. This represents a 83.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cognex

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CGNX. State of Michigan Retirement System boosted its position in Cognex by 0.5% during the first quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 39,853 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,952,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC raised its holdings in Cognex by 3.2% in the first quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 6,793 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $333,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors raised its holdings in Cognex by 3.7% in the first quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 6,073 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $298,000 after purchasing an additional 214 shares in the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Cognex by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 22,907 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $824,000 after buying an additional 234 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Essential Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Cognex by 12.5% during the first quarter. Essential Partners LLC now owns 2,153 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $105,000 after buying an additional 239 shares during the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cognex Stock Up 1.5%

CGNX stock opened at $61.59 on Friday. Cognex has a twelve month low of $34.60 and a twelve month high of $72.88. The firm has a market cap of $10.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.80 and a beta of 1.49. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $64.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $57.90.

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

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.085 per share. This represents a $0.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.01%.

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.