Sanctuary Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Cognex Corporation $CGNX

Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 9,033 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $443,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Cognex by 124.5% during the fourth quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 98,451 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $3,542,000 after purchasing an additional 54,600 shares during the last quarter. One Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Cognex in the 4th quarter valued at $1,945,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its stake in shares of Cognex by 76.3% in the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 758,831 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $27,303,000 after purchasing an additional 328,427 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cognex during the 4th quarter worth $753,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in shares of Cognex by 11.1% during the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,152,053 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $41,451,000 after buying an additional 114,652 shares in the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on CGNX shares. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $75.00 price objective (up from $64.00) on shares of Cognex in a research note on Monday, May 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 target price (up from $70.00) on shares of Cognex in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Truist Financial increased their target price on shares of Cognex from $61.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 16th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $72.31.

Cognex Stock Down 4.2%

Shares of CGNX stock opened at $57.82 on Thursday. Cognex Corporation has a twelve month low of $33.45 and a twelve month high of $72.88. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $64.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $55.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 68.83 and a beta of 1.49.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.09. Cognex had a return on equity of 10.89% and a net margin of 13.62%.The firm had revenue of $268.44 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $245.98 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.14 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 24.3% on a year-over-year basis. Cognex has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.400-0.440 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Cognex Corporation will post 1.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 21st were issued a $0.085 dividend. This represents a $0.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 21st. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 40.48%.

Insider Activity at Cognex

In other Cognex 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 directly owned 5,258 shares in the company, valued at approximately $351,234.40. This represents a 94.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Darren Marc Long sold 20,252 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.34, for a total transaction of $1,343,517.68. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 3,990 shares in the company, valued at approximately $264,696.60. This trade represents a 83.54% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 224,847 shares of company stock worth $14,975,098 in the last quarter. 1.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.