50,152 Shares in Cognex Corporation $CGNX Acquired by Caxton Associates LLP

Key Points

• Caxton Associates LLP recently acquired 50,152 shares of Cognex Corporation valued at approximately $1.5 million during the first quarter.
• Multiple analysts have upgraded Cognex, with price objectives ranging from $37 to $58, underscoring a strong consensus for the stock's performance.
• Cognex has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.08, yielding 0.7%, with a payout ratio of 45.07% as of the last report.

Caxton Associates LLP purchased a new position in shares of Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 50,152 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock, valued at approximately $1,496,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its stake in shares of Cognex by 25,934.3% during the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 34,886 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $1,041,000 after purchasing an additional 34,752 shares during the period. Front Street Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Cognex by 8.6% during the 1st quarter. Front Street Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,387,075 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $41,275,000 after buying an additional 109,402 shares in the last quarter. Scientech Research LLC lifted its holdings in Cognex by 93.8% during the 1st quarter. Scientech Research LLC now owns 29,828 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $890,000 after buying an additional 14,434 shares in the last quarter. Petrus Trust Company LTA bought a new stake in Cognex during the 1st quarter valued at about $738,000. Finally, Electron Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Cognex during the 1st quarter valued at about $10,322,000. 88.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cognex Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of CGNX traded up $0.36 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $44.75. The company's stock had a trading volume of 358,968 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,079,704. The company's 50-day moving average is $39.81 and its 200-day moving average is $33.04. Cognex Corporation has a 52-week low of $22.67 and a 52-week high of $45.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.95 and a beta of 1.50.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.02. The firm 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%. Cognex's revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.23 EPS. Cognex has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 0.240-0.290 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Cognex Corporation will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CGNX has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Cognex from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, June 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Cognex from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday, June 12th. Melius upgraded shares of Cognex from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $60.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, July 10th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Cognex from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, KeyCorp upgraded shares of Cognex from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $50.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, August 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $42.50.

Insider Activity at Cognex

In related news, EVP Sheila Marie Dipalma sold 2,002 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 8,582 shares in the company, valued at $386,190. The trade was a 18.92% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.