Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) Receives $42.50 Average Target Price from Brokerages

Key Points

• Cognex Corporation has received a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from analysts, with one sell rating and a range of hold and buy ratings among sixteen research firms.
• The company's average price target is $42.50, with several brokerages issuing varied recommendations, including a recent upgrade to $60.00 by Melius.
• Cognex recently reported earnings of $0.25 EPS, surpassing expectations, and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.08 per share.

Shares of Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX - Get Free Report) have been given a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" by the sixteen ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $43.0714.

Several research firms have recently issued reports on CGNX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on Cognex in a report on Monday, September 15th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $45.00 target price on the stock. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on Cognex from $36.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. UBS Group upped their price target on Cognex from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Cognex from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Cognex from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, June 16th.

Insider Activity

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cognex

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CGNX. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted 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 during the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth bought a new position in Cognex during the fourth quarter valued at $270,000. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in Cognex by 464.6% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 782,576 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $28,063,000 after purchasing an additional 643,959 shares during the period. Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Cognex by 3.2% during the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 14,396 shares during the period. Finally, Nomura Holdings Inc. bought a new position in Cognex during the fourth quarter valued at $816,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.12% of the company's stock.

Cognex Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of CGNX stock traded up $0.29 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $46.48. 4,087,841 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,874,878. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.80 billion, a PE ratio of 65.47 and a beta of 1.50. Cognex has a twelve month low of $22.67 and a twelve month high of $46.52. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $40.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $33.48.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $249.09 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $246.70 million. Cognex had a return on equity of 6.65% and a net margin of 13.13%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.23 EPS. Cognex has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 0.240-0.290 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Cognex will post 0.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 14th were paid a $0.08 dividend. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 14th. Cognex's payout ratio is currently 45.07%.

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.