Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) Receives Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Cognex Corporation has received a consensus analyst rating of "Moderate Buy", with 7 buy, 8 hold, and 1 sell ratings, and a 12-month price target averaging around $44.93.
• The company reported $0.25 earnings per share for its last quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations, along with a 4.2% year-over-year revenue increase.
• Cognex recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.08, representing a 0.8% yield, with a payout ratio of 45.07%.

Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX - Get Free Report) has received a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the eighteen research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $44.9333.

CGNX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Cognex from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $50.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Cognex in a report on Wednesday. Citigroup reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $37.00 target price (up previously from $30.00) on shares of Cognex in a report on Monday, July 14th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Cognex from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Melius raised shares of Cognex from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $60.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 10th.

Cognex Price Performance

CGNX opened at $40.78 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $6.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.44 and a beta of 1.50. Cognex has a 1-year low of $22.67 and a 1-year high of $47.52. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $44.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $34.90.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $249.09 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $246.70 million. Cognex had a net margin of 13.13% and a return on equity of 6.65%. The company's revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.23 earnings per share. Cognex has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 0.240-0.290 EPS. Equities 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 14th were issued a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 14th. Cognex's payout ratio is 45.07%.

Insider Activity at Cognex

In related news, EVP Sheila Marie Dipalma sold 2,002 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.00, for a total transaction of $90,090.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 8,582 shares of the company's stock, valued at $386,190. This represents a 18.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cognex

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. purchased a new stake in Cognex during the second quarter valued at $29,000. Penserra Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Cognex during the second quarter valued at $29,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in Cognex by 402.2% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 919 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 736 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in Cognex by 439.4% during the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 971 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 791 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Cognex by 155.3% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,062 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 646 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.12% of the company's stock.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.