Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) Stock Rating Cut to “Hold” at Zacks Research

Zacks Research downgraded shares of Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Tuesday,Zacks reports.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $74.00 target price (up from $72.00) on shares of Cognex in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Truist Financial set a $74.00 price target on shares of Cognex and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Wall Street Zen cut Cognex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, September 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on Cognex from $76.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $91.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a research report on Friday, August 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Cognex presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $75.21.

Cognex Trading Down 7.7%

Shares of NASDAQ CGNX opened at $61.21 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $10.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.43 and a beta of 1.48. Cognex has a 12 month low of $34.60 and a 12 month high of $72.88. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $62.26 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $61.20.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $291.26 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $292.10 million. Cognex had a net margin of 16.05% and a return on equity of 13.50%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.25 EPS. Cognex has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.640-1.680 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.500-0.540 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Cognex will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 20th were issued a dividend of $0.0850 per share. This represents a $0.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 20th. Cognex’s payout ratio is presently 33.01%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cognex

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 86.6% during the third quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 892 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 414 shares during the period. Congress Asset Management Co. acquired a new stake in Cognex in the third quarter valued at $23,624,000. Eastern Bank raised its position in Cognex by 20.0% during the 3rd quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 1,242 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $75,000 after purchasing an additional 207 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its position in Cognex by 5,143.8% during the 3rd quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 57,944 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $3,514,000 after purchasing an additional 56,839 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in Cognex by 16.9% during the 3rd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 9,497 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $576,000 after buying an additional 1,376 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Company Profile

Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ: CGNX) develops machine vision products and technologies that help businesses automate manufacturing, logistics and other industrial processes. Its systems enable machines to inspect, identify, measure and guide products, components and materials with limited human intervention.

The company’s product portfolio includes industrial vision cameras, vision sensors, image-based barcode readers, three-dimensional vision systems and software for image processing and analysis.