Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) Cut to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Saturday morning.

CGNX has been the topic of several other research reports. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Cognex from $71.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. UBS Group set a $75.00 target price on shares of Cognex in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Cognex from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $65.00 to $75.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $75.00 price target on shares of Cognex in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Seaport Research Partners set a $75.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $75.64.

Cognex Price Performance

Cognex stock opened at $64.36 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $10.71 billion, a PE ratio of 62.49 and a beta of 1.49. Cognex has a one year low of $34.60 and a one year high of $72.88. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $65.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $57.45.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.03. Cognex had a return on equity of 13.50% and a net margin of 16.05%.The business had revenue of $291.26 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $292.10 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.25 EPS. Cognex’s quarterly revenue was up 16.9% on a year-over-year basis. Cognex has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.640-1.680 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.500-0.540 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Cognex will post 1.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Cognex

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cognex

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Cognex during the second quarter worth approximately $1,158,123,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its holdings in shares of Cognex by 173,138.2% in the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 10,471,400 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Cognex in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $73,103,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. bought a new position in Cognex in the 4th quarter worth approximately $68,388,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in Cognex in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $129,348,000. Institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

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.