Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday,Wall Street Zen reports.

CGNX has been the subject of a number of other reports. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $91.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Zacks Research upgraded Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. DA Davidson set a $65.00 price objective on Cognex and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their target price on Cognex from $76.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on Cognex from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $75.64.

Cognex Stock Performance

Cognex stock opened at $62.25 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $10.47 billion, a PE ratio of 60.44 and a beta of 1.49. Cognex has a 12 month low of $34.60 and a 12 month high of $72.88. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $63.82 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $59.89.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $291.26 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $292.10 million. Cognex had a net margin of 16.05% and a return on equity of 13.50%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $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. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Cognex will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 20th were paid a dividend of $0.085 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $0.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.01%.

Institutional Trading of Cognex

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CGNX. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Cognex during the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Cognex during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Transamerica Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Cognex in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in Cognex by 635.4% in the 2nd quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 478 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 413 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FNY Investment Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Cognex in the second quarter valued at approximately $45,000. 88.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Cognex

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.