Handelsbanken Fonder AB Acquires 328,427 Shares of Cognex Corporation $CGNX

Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its holdings in shares of Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 76.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 758,831 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 328,427 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Cognex were worth $27,303,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of 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. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its stake 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 buying an additional 10,471,400 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 76,212 shares during the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised 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 last quarter. Finally, Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN raised its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 40,927 shares during the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Laura Ann Macdonald sold 98,122 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.80, for a total value of $6,554,549.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 5,258 shares in the company, valued at $351,234.40. This represents a 94.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Mark Fennell sold 64,873 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.05, for a total transaction of $4,349,734.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 11,263 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $755,184.15. This trade represents a 85.21% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 208,745 shares of company stock worth $13,862,237 over the last quarter. 1.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Cognex Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CGNX opened at $60.65 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $10.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 72.20 and a beta of 1.48. Cognex Corporation has a 52-week low of $29.00 and a 52-week high of $71.90. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $54.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $46.15.

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, beating 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 24.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.14 earnings per share. Cognex has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.400-0.440 EPS. Analysts predict that Cognex Corporation will post 1.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 4th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be issued a $0.085 dividend. This represents a $0.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is 40.48%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on CGNX shares. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $75.00 price target (up from $64.00) on shares of Cognex in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $68.00 price target (up from $60.00) on shares of Cognex in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on shares of Cognex from $67.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Truist Financial set a $61.00 price target on shares of Cognex and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Cognex from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $69.36.

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.