Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) Hits New 1-Year High - What's Next?

Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX - Get Free Report)'s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $47.52 and last traded at $46.43, with a volume of 1742227 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $46.54.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Cognex from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. 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. Melius raised Cognex from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $60.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. 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, September 16th. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their price objective on Cognex from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, August 4th. One equities research 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 given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cognex has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $43.07.

Cognex Stock Down 0.2%

The stock has a market capitalization of $7.80 billion, a PE ratio of 65.40 and a beta of 1.50. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $41.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $33.67.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.02. The company 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%.Cognex's revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.23 earnings per share. Cognex has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 0.240-0.290 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Cognex Corporation will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 14th were given a dividend of $0.08 per share. 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.07%.

Insider Activity at Cognex

In related news, EVP Sheila Marie Dipalma sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owned 6,582 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $296,387.46. This trade represents a 23.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 1.60% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Cognex

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CGNX. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Cognex by 148.5% during the second quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,075,772 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $223,594,000 after acquiring an additional 4,228,729 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its position in Cognex by 126.2% in the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 4,609,802 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $137,510,000 after buying an additional 2,571,457 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in Cognex by 18,810.9% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,794,649 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $56,657,000 after buying an additional 1,785,159 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Cognex by 32.0% in the first quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,082,319 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $181,436,000 after buying an additional 1,474,832 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mawer Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in Cognex in the second quarter worth $45,723,000. 88.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.

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