Royal Bank of Canada Reduces Stake in Cognex Corporation $CGNX

Royal Bank of Canada lowered its position in Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 13.5% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 121,253 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 18,885 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada’s holdings in Cognex were worth $5,939,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Cognex in the first quarter worth about $36,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Cognex by 74.8% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 764 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 327 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Cognex by 402.2% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 919 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 736 shares during the last quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Cognex during the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cognex by 202.7% in the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,105 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 740 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Cognex

In other Cognex news, VP Darren Marc Long sold 20,252 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.34, for a total value of $1,343,517.68. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 3,990 shares in the company, valued at approximately $264,696.60. The trade was a 83.54% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Price Performance

CGNX stock opened at $62.90 on Wednesday. Cognex Corporation has a 1-year low of $34.60 and a 1-year high of $72.88. The company has a market capitalization of $10.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.07 and a beta of 1.49. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $64.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $57.61.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.03. Cognex had a net margin of 16.05% and a return on equity of 13.50%. The firm had revenue of $291.26 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $292.10 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.25 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Cognex has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.640-1.680 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.500-0.540 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Cognex Corporation will post 1.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.085 per share. This represents a $0.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 33.01%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on CGNX. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Cognex in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Cognex from $71.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $75.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Cognex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $80.00 target price (up from $75.00) on shares of Cognex in a report on Monday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $75.64.

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.