Cognex Corporation $CGNX Shares Sold by Needham Investment Management LLC

Key Points

• Needham Investment Management LLC reduced its holdings in Cognex Corporation by 21.3% in the first quarter, owning approximately 0.09% of the company worth $4.64 million.
• Multiple analysts have recently increased their price targets on Cognex shares, with ratings ranging from Neutral to Buy, reflecting strong investor interest and optimism.
• Cognex reported a quarterly EPS of $0.25, exceeding analysts' expectations, along with a revenue increase of 4.2% year-over-year, indicating solid financial performance.

Needham Investment Management LLC lessened its holdings in Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX - Free Report) by 21.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 155,500 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after selling 42,000 shares during the quarter. Needham Investment Management LLC owned 0.09% of Cognex worth $4,639,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CGNX. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted 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 valued at $137,510,000 after purchasing an additional 2,571,457 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted 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 valued at $181,436,000 after purchasing an additional 1,474,832 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in Cognex by 16,472.8% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 819,028 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $24,432,000 after purchasing an additional 814,086 shares in the last quarter. ING Groep NV purchased a new stake in Cognex in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $22,191,000. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Cognex by 34.3% during the 1st 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 acquiring an additional 647,955 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.12% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Cognex

In other news, EVP Sheila Marie Dipalma sold 2,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at $296,387.46. This represents a 23.30% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on CGNX shares. Citigroup reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $37.00 price target (up from $30.00) on shares of Cognex in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on shares of Cognex from $36.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Cognex from $29.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a "sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 12th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Cognex from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, KeyCorp upgraded Cognex from a "sector weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $50.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, August 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $42.31.

Cognex Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of Cognex stock traded up $0.04 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $44.40. 1,499,479 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,087,880. 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 $7.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.54 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a fifty day moving average of $39.09 and a 200-day moving average of $32.80.

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 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 posted $0.23 EPS. The business'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, equities research analysts anticipate that Cognex Corporation will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 14th were issued 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 was Thursday, August 14th. Cognex's dividend payout ratio is presently 45.07%.

Cognex 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.