Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC Buys New Shares in Cognex Corporation $CGNX

Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC bought a new position in shares of Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 17,220 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $844,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its position in Cognex by 173,138.2% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 10,477,448 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $376,979,000 after purchasing an additional 10,471,400 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Cognex during the fourth quarter worth about $73,103,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Cognex during the fourth quarter worth about $68,388,000. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Cognex by 18,810.9% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,794,649 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $56,657,000 after buying an additional 1,785,159 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,529,010 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CGNX has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report 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. Stephens increased their price objective on shares of Cognex from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $75.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, DA Davidson set a $62.00 price objective on shares of Cognex and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Cognex presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $71.14.

Cognex Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CGNX opened at $67.80 on Friday. Cognex Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $31.77 and a fifty-two week high of $72.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.28 billion, a PE ratio of 80.71 and a beta of 1.49. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $63.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $52.41.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last posted its 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 firm had revenue of $268.44 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.14 earnings per share. Cognex has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.400-0.440 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Cognex Corporation will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 4th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 21st were given 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 was Thursday, May 21st. Cognex’s payout ratio is currently 40.48%.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Laura Ann Macdonald sold 98,122 shares of Cognex 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 sale, the vice president directly owned 5,258 shares in the company, valued at $351,234.40. This trade represents a 94.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 3,990 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $264,696.60. This trade represents a 83.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 224,847 shares of company stock worth $14,975,098. Corporate insiders own 1.70% 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.