Cognex Corporation $CGNX Shares Acquired by Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its holdings in shares of Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 180.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,934 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,886 shares during the quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.’s holdings in Cognex were worth $609,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Cognex by 2.1% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,598,728 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $842,522,000 after buying an additional 374,999 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in Cognex by 0.9% during the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 76,212 shares during the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its position in Cognex by 27.9% during the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 7,013,184 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $252,360,000 after purchasing an additional 1,529,010 shares during the last quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN increased its position in Cognex by 0.9% during the second quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 4,768,716 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $151,264,000 after purchasing an additional 40,927 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Cognex by 27.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,950,299 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $142,154,000 after purchasing an additional 842,783 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Laura Ann Macdonald sold 98,122 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.80, for a total transaction of $6,554,549.60. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 5,258 shares in the company, valued at approximately $351,234.40. This represents a 94.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Darren Marc Long sold 20,252 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 3,990 shares in the company, valued at approximately $264,696.60. The trade was a 83.54% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 224,847 shares of company stock valued at $14,975,098 in the last ninety days. 1.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Cognex Price Performance

CGNX stock opened at $61.32 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 73.00 and a beta of 1.52. The business’s 50-day moving average is $58.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $48.91. Cognex Corporation has a 1 year low of $29.22 and a 1 year high of $71.90.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $268.44 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $245.98 million. Cognex had a net margin of 13.62% and a return on equity of 10.89%. The firm’s revenue was up 24.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.14 EPS. Cognex has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.400-0.440 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Cognex Corporation will post 1.41 EPS for the current year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 21st were given a $0.085 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $0.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is 40.48%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Cognex in a report on Thursday, February 12th. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Cognex in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $75.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $75.00 price objective (up from $64.00) on shares of Cognex in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $63.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a research report on Friday, February 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $70.43.

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.