Magnetar Financial LLC Takes Position in Cognex Corporation $CGNX

Key Points

• Magnetar Financial LLC has acquired a new position in Cognex Corporation, purchasing 22,738 shares valued at approximately $678,000 in the first quarter.
• Several institutional investors significantly increased their holdings in Cognex, with Farther Finance Advisors LLC raising its stake by 439.4% during the same period.
• Analysts have set new price targets for Cognex, with ratings ranging from "Strong Buy" to "Sell", reflecting varied outlooks on its stock performance.

Magnetar Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 22,738 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock, valued at approximately $678,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Covestor Ltd lifted its position in Cognex by 17.6% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,223 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $66,000 after buying an additional 332 shares in the last quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. increased its stake in Cognex by 16.0% during the fourth quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 3,267 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $117,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Cognex by 17.0% during the first quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 3,357 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $101,000 after purchasing an additional 487 shares during the last quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Cognex by 7.4% in the first quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,698 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $230,000 after purchasing an additional 532 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Cognex by 155.3% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,062 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 646 shares during the period. 88.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CGNX has been the topic of several research reports. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on shares of Cognex from $36.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Melius upgraded shares of Cognex from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $60.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Cognex from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $50.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Cognex from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 12th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $37.00 price target (up from $30.00) on shares of Cognex in a research report on Monday, July 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $42.31.

Cognex Price Performance

NASDAQ CGNX traded up $0.67 on Friday, hitting $44.94. 2,071,965 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,840,344. The company's 50 day moving average price is $38.59 and its 200-day moving average price is $32.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 63.30 and a beta of 1.50. Cognex Corporation has a twelve month low of $22.67 and a twelve month high of $45.23.

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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $249.09 million for 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 business's revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.23 EPS. Cognex has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 0.240-0.290 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Cognex Corporation will post 0.61 EPS for the current year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 14th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Cognex's dividend payout ratio is currently 45.07%.

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.