Malaga Cove Capital LLC Takes Position in Cognex Corporation $CGNX

Malaga Cove Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 9,816 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $353,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in CGNX. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Cognex by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,598,728 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $842,522,000 after acquiring an additional 374,999 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its position in Cognex by 173,138.2% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 10,477,448 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $376,979,000 after acquiring an additional 10,471,400 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in Cognex by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,101,583 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $292,224,000 after acquiring an additional 76,212 shares during the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA grew its position 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 acquiring an additional 1,529,010 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN grew its position in Cognex by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 4,768,716 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $151,264,000 after acquiring an additional 40,927 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on CGNX shares. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Cognex in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating and set a $75.00 price target on shares of Cognex in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 price target (up from $70.00) on shares of Cognex in a research report on Monday, May 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Cognex from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $65.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, DA Davidson set a $62.00 price objective on shares of Cognex and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $70.43.

Cognex Trading Down 2.4%

CGNX stock opened at $66.70 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $56.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $47.21. Cognex Corporation has a 12-month low of $29.22 and a 12-month high of $71.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 79.40 and a beta of 1.48.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $268.44 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $245.98 million. Cognex had a return on equity of 10.89% and a net margin of 13.62%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.14 earnings per share. Cognex has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.400-0.440 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Cognex Corporation will post 1.4 EPS for the current year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.085 per share. This represents a $0.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 40.48%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Mark Fennell sold 64,873 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.05, for a total transaction of $4,349,734.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 11,263 shares in the company, valued at $755,184.15. This represents a 85.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Laura Ann Macdonald sold 98,122 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.80, for a total value of $6,554,549.60. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 5,258 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $351,234.40. This represents a 94.91% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 204,595 shares of company stock valued at $13,631,580. 1.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Cognex 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.