Malaga Cove Capital LLC Invests $353,000 in Cognex Corporation $CGNX

Malaga Cove Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 9,816 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $353,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Cognex by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,598,728 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $842,522,000 after acquiring an additional 374,999 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its stake in shares of Cognex by 173,138.2% during 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 acquiring an additional 10,471,400 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Cognex by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,101,583 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $292,224,000 after acquiring an additional 76,212 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA grew its stake in shares of Cognex by 27.9% during 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 acquiring an additional 1,529,010 shares during the period. Finally, Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN grew its stake in shares of Cognex by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 4,768,716 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $151,264,000 after acquiring an additional 40,927 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Cognex

In related news, VP Laura Ann Macdonald sold 41,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.56, for a total value of $2,727,296.00. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 5,258 shares in the company, valued at approximately $344,714.48. The trade was a 88.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Mark Fennell sold 64,873 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 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 204,595 shares of company stock worth $13,631,580 over the last quarter. 1.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Cognex Price Performance

Cognex stock opened at $66.70 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $11.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 79.40 and a beta of 1.48. Cognex Corporation has a 1 year low of $29.22 and a 1 year high of $71.90. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $56.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $47.21.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $268.44 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $245.98 million. Cognex had a return on equity of 10.89% and a net margin of 13.62%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period 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. As a group, equities analysts expect that Cognex Corporation will post 1.4 EPS for the current year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 21st will be given a $0.085 dividend. This represents a $0.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. Cognex’s payout ratio is currently 40.48%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $80.00 price target (up from $70.00) on shares of Cognex in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Seaport Research Partners set a $75.00 price target on Cognex in a research note on Tuesday. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Cognex in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Zacks Research lowered Cognex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $68.00 price target (up from $60.00) on shares of Cognex in a research note on Friday, May 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $70.43.

Cognex 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.