Cognex Corporation $CGNX Position Increased by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 2.6% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 370,071 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after buying an additional 9,545 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Cognex were worth $18,130,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 173,138.2% during 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 during the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its holdings in 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 worth $252,360,000 after buying an additional 1,529,010 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Cognex by 31.0% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,314,896 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $191,231,000 after buying an additional 1,258,629 shares during the period. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN lifted its stake in Cognex by 0.9% during the second 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 buying an additional 40,927 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Cognex by 27.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,950,299 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $142,154,000 after buying an additional 842,783 shares in the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Cognex

In other Cognex news, VP Laura Ann Macdonald sold 98,122 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.80, for a total transaction of $6,554,549.60. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 5,258 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $351,234.40. This represents a 94.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Darren Marc Long sold 20,252 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $264,696.60. This represents a 83.54% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 224,847 shares of company stock worth $14,975,098 in the last 90 days. 1.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Cognex Price Performance

Shares of CGNX stock opened at $62.54 on Thursday. Cognex Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $33.45 and a fifty-two week high of $72.88. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $65.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $55.10. The firm has a market cap of $10.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 74.45 and a beta of 1.49.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.34 earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $268.44 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $245.98 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.14 EPS. The firm’s 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, research analysts expect that Cognex Corporation will post 1.48 EPS for the current year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 21st were given a $0.085 dividend. This represents a $0.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 21st. Cognex’s payout ratio is currently 40.48%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on CGNX. Seaport Research Partners set a $75.00 price target on shares of Cognex in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Stephens raised their price objective on shares of Cognex from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on shares of Cognex from $67.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, DA Davidson set a $62.00 target price on Cognex and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cognex presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $72.31.

About Cognex

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.