Brokerages Set Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) Price Target at $46.20

Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have issued a hold recommendation, eight have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $46.20.

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $58.00 target price on shares of Cognex in a report on Friday, October 31st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Cognex in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $56.00 price objective (up from $55.00) on shares of Cognex in a report on Friday, October 31st. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on Cognex from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Cognex from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 16th.

Cognex Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of NASDAQ CGNX opened at $39.27 on Wednesday. Cognex has a 1 year low of $22.67 and a 1 year high of $49.76. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $44.92 and its 200-day moving average is $37.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.58 billion, a PE ratio of 61.36 and a beta of 1.52.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.06. Cognex had a return on equity of 8.26% and a net margin of 11.33%.The business had revenue of $276.89 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $261.86 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.20 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Cognex has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 0.190-0.24 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Cognex will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 13th will be paid a $0.085 dividend. This is an increase from Cognex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $0.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 13th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is 53.13%.

Insider Activity at Cognex

In other Cognex news, Director Robert Willett sold 6,704 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.51, for a total transaction of $331,915.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Sheila Marie Dipalma sold 2,000 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.03, for a total transaction of $90,060.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 6,582 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $296,387.46. This trade represents a 23.30% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 10,706 shares of company stock worth $512,065 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Quent Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cognex during the third quarter valued at about $26,000. REAP Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Cognex in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in 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 worth $27,000 after buying an additional 736 shares during the period. Penserra Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Cognex during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. acquired a new position in Cognex in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $29,000. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cognex Company Profile

Cognex Corporation provides machine vision products that capture and analyze visual information to automate manufacturing and distribution tasks worldwide. Its machine vision products are used to automate the manufacturing and tracking of discrete items, including mobile phones, electric vehicle batteries, and e-commerce packages by locating, identifying, inspecting, and measuring them during the manufacturing or distribution process.