Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) VP Darren Marc Long Sells 20,252 Shares of Stock

Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) VP Darren Marc Long sold 20,252 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was 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 owned 3,990 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $264,696.60. This represents a 83.54% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Cognex Price Performance

CGNX stock opened at $66.01 on Friday. Cognex Corporation has a 1-year low of $29.22 and a 1-year high of $71.90. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $56.65 and a 200-day moving average price of $47.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 78.58 and a beta of 1.48.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.09. Cognex had a return on equity of 10.89% and a net margin of 13.62%.The firm had revenue of $268.44 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $245.98 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.14 earnings per share. The company’s revenue 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, analysts anticipate that Cognex Corporation will post 1.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 4th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.085 per share. This represents a $0.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. Cognex’s payout ratio is presently 40.48%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on CGNX. Wall Street Zen upgraded Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. DA Davidson set a $62.00 price objective on Cognex and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. UBS Group set a $75.00 price objective on Cognex in a research report on Tuesday. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $68.00 price objective (up from $60.00) on shares of Cognex in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $75.00 target price on shares of Cognex in a report on Thursday, May 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.43.

Institutional Trading of Cognex

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC purchased a new stake in Cognex in the first quarter worth about $300,000. Front Street Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Cognex by 1.0% in the first quarter. Front Street Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,322,588 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $64,794,000 after purchasing an additional 13,293 shares in the last quarter. Essential Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Cognex by 12.5% in the first quarter. Essential Partners LLC now owns 2,153 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $105,000 after purchasing an additional 239 shares in the last quarter. Western Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cognex in the first quarter worth $103,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in shares of Cognex by 51.9% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 731,149 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $35,819,000 after purchasing an additional 249,877 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

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.