M.E. Allison & CO. Inc. Makes New Investment in Cognex Corporation $CGNX

Key Points

• M.E. Allison & CO. Inc. purchased 8,265 shares of Cognex Corporation valued at approximately $262,000, marking a significant new investment in the company.
• Analysts have issued varied ratings on Cognex, with a consensus target price of $44.93 and a moderate buy average rating.
• Cognex recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.08 per share, resulting in an annual yield of 0.8% and a payout ratio of 45.07%.

M.E. Allison & CO. Inc. bought a new position in Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 8,265 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock, valued at approximately $262,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of CGNX. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its holdings in Cognex by 126.2% in the 1st quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 4,609,802 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $137,510,000 after purchasing an additional 2,571,457 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Cognex by 32.0% in the 1st 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 purchasing an additional 1,474,832 shares in the last quarter. ING Groep NV acquired a new position in Cognex in the 1st quarter worth about $22,191,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of Cognex by 34.3% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,539,557 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $75,756,000 after buying an additional 647,955 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Cognex in the second quarter valued at about $17,268,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.12% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CGNX has been the subject of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on Cognex in a research note on Monday, September 15th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $45.00 price target for the company. Citigroup reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $37.00 price target (up previously from $30.00) on shares of Cognex in a research note on Monday, July 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Cognex from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Cognex in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price target on Cognex from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $44.93.

Cognex Price Performance

Shares of Cognex stock opened at $40.78 on Monday. Cognex Corporation has a one year low of $22.67 and a one year high of $47.52. The stock's 50-day moving average is $44.20 and its 200 day moving average is $34.96. The firm has a market cap of $6.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.44 and a beta of 1.50.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.02. Cognex had a return on equity of 6.65% and a net margin of 13.13%.The company had revenue of $249.09 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $246.70 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.23 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Cognex has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 0.240-0.290 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Cognex Corporation will post 0.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 28th. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. Cognex's dividend payout ratio is presently 45.07%.

Insider Transactions at Cognex

In other Cognex news, EVP Sheila Marie Dipalma sold 2,002 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owned 8,582 shares in the company, valued at approximately $386,190. This represents a 18.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.60% of the company's stock.

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.

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