Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) Price Target Raised to $40.00 at The Goldman Sachs Group

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) had its price target upped by The Goldman Sachs Group from $36.00 to $40.00 in a report released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a sell rating on the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock.

CGNX has been the subject of several other reports. Melius raised shares of Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, July 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on shares of Cognex in a research note on Monday. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $45.00 target price for the company. KeyCorp raised Cognex from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $50.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, August 1st. DA Davidson increased their price target on Cognex from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Cognex from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, June 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Cognex has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.07.

Cognex Price Performance

Shares of CGNX stock opened at $46.19 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $33.37. Cognex has a one year low of $22.67 and a one year high of $46.38. The firm has a market cap of $7.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.06 and a beta of 1.50.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.02. Cognex had a return on equity of 6.65% and a net margin of 13.13%.The company had revenue of $249.09 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $246.70 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.23 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. Cognex has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 0.240-0.290 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Cognex will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 14th were paid a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 14th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 45.07%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Sheila Marie Dipalma sold 2,002 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.00, for a total transaction of $90,090.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 8,582 shares in the company, valued at approximately $386,190. The trade was a 18.92% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in Cognex by 15.8% in the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 9,018 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $323,000 after purchasing an additional 1,233 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth acquired a new position in shares of Cognex in the 4th quarter valued at $270,000. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cognex by 464.6% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 782,576 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $28,063,000 after buying an additional 643,959 shares during the period. Nuveen Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Cognex by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 457,636 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $16,411,000 after buying an additional 14,396 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Holdings Inc. acquired a new stake in Cognex during the 4th quarter worth $816,000. Institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

About Cognex

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.