Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) Sets New 1-Year High – Here’s Why

Shares of Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $72.35 and last traded at $71.5410, with a volume of 1811368 shares. The stock had previously closed at $68.36.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Truist Financial set a $61.00 target price on Cognex and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on Cognex from $67.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 target price (up from $70.00) on shares of Cognex in a report on Monday, May 11th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Cognex in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $75.00 price target on shares of Cognex in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.43.

Cognex Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $11.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 85.60 and a beta of 1.52. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $62.59 and a 200-day moving average of $51.58.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $268.44 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $245.98 million. Cognex had a return on equity of 10.89% and a net margin of 13.62%.The firm’s revenue was up 24.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.14 earnings per share. Cognex has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.400-0.440 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Cognex Corporation will post 1.49 EPS for the current year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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 of this dividend was Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $0.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. Cognex’s payout ratio is 40.48%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Darren Marc Long sold 20,252 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.34, for a total transaction of $1,343,517.68. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 3,990 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $264,696.60. The trade was a 83.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Laura Ann Macdonald sold 98,122 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the vice president owned 5,258 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $351,234.40. This trade represents a 94.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 224,847 shares of company stock worth $14,975,098 in the last 90 days. 1.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cognex

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its position in shares of Cognex by 173,138.2% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 10,477,448 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $376,979,000 after acquiring an additional 10,471,400 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Cognex during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $73,103,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. purchased a new stake in Cognex during the 4th quarter worth approximately $68,388,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Cognex by 18,810.9% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,794,649 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $56,657,000 after purchasing an additional 1,785,159 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its position in shares of Cognex by 27.9% in the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 7,013,184 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $252,360,000 after purchasing an additional 1,529,010 shares in the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.