Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Takes $2.35 Million Position in Cognex Corporation $CGNX

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 48,000 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,352,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in CGNX. Royal Bank of Canada raised its stake in Cognex by 13.2% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 200,351 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $5,976,000 after buying an additional 23,326 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cognex in the first quarter worth $291,000. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Cognex by 24.1% during the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 47,444 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,415,000 after acquiring an additional 9,223 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Cognex by 402.2% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 919 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 736 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in shares of Cognex by 7.5% in the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 13,208 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $419,000 after purchasing an additional 920 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Cognex

In other Cognex news, VP Darren Marc Long sold 20,252 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Mark Fennell sold 64,873 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 11,263 shares in the company, valued at $755,184.15. This trade represents a 85.21% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 224,847 shares of company stock worth $14,975,098. Corporate insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on shares of Cognex from $67.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Cognex in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Finally, DA Davidson set a $62.00 price objective on shares of Cognex and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cognex presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.43.

Cognex Trading Up 2.7%

Shares of NASDAQ CGNX opened at $68.36 on Tuesday. Cognex Corporation has a 12-month low of $31.42 and a 12-month high of $71.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 81.38 and a beta of 1.52. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $62.59 and a 200 day moving average of $51.58.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last released 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. The business had revenue of $268.44 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $245.98 million. Cognex had a net margin of 13.62% and a return on equity of 10.89%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 24.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.14 earnings per share. Cognex has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.400-0.440 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Cognex Corporation will post 1.49 EPS for the current year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 21st were given a dividend of $0.085 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $0.34 annualized dividend 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.