Pacer Advisors Inc. Acquires 591,846 Shares of Cognex Corporation $CGNX

Key Points

• Pacer Advisors increased its Cognex stake by 2,228.2%, acquiring 591,846 additional shares to own 618,408 shares valued at approximately $30.3 million. Institutional investors collectively hold 88.12% of the company.
• Analyst sentiment is favorable, with JPMorgan, Needham and Barclays raising price targets to $75; Cognex has a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and a $72.31 price target.
• Cognex reported quarterly EPS of $0.34, beating estimates of $0.25, while revenue rose 24.3% year over year to $268.44 million. Shares opened at $67.44, and the company pays an annualized dividend of $0.34.

Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX - Free Report) by 2,228.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 618,408 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock after buying an additional 591,846 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. owned 0.37% of Cognex worth $30,296,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its position in Cognex by 173,138.2% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 10,477,448 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $376,979,000 after acquiring an additional 10,471,400 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its stake in shares of Cognex by 27.9% during the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 7,013,184 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $252,360,000 after purchasing an additional 1,529,010 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of Cognex by 31.0% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,314,896 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $191,231,000 after purchasing an additional 1,258,629 shares during the last quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN raised its holdings in shares of Cognex by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 4,768,716 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $151,264,000 after purchasing an additional 40,927 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cognex by 27.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,950,299 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $142,154,000 after purchasing an additional 842,783 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.12% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Cognex from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $65.00 to $75.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Cognex in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on Cognex from $67.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Cognex from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, Barclays reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $75.00 price objective (up from $64.00) on shares of Cognex in a report on Monday, May 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Cognex presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $72.31.

Cognex Stock Up 3.4%

Shares of CGNX opened at $67.44 on Tuesday. The business's 50-day moving average price is $64.82 and its 200-day moving average price is $56.47. Cognex Corporation has a twelve month low of $34.60 and a twelve month high of $72.88. The stock has a market cap of $11.22 billion, a PE ratio of 80.29 and a beta of 1.49.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $268.44 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $245.98 million. Cognex had a net margin of 13.62% and a return on equity of 10.89%. Cognex's revenue was up 24.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.14 earnings per share. Cognex has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.400-0.440 EPS. Analysts expect that Cognex Corporation will post 1.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 21st were paid a $0.085 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $0.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. Cognex's dividend payout ratio is currently 40.48%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cognex

In other Cognex news, VP Darren Marc Long sold 20,252 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.34, for a total value of $1,343,517.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 3,990 shares of the company's stock, valued at $264,696.60. This trade represents a 83.54% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Mark Fennell sold 64,873 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.05, for a total transaction of $4,349,734.65. Following the transaction, the insider owned 11,263 shares of the company's stock, valued at $755,184.15. This trade represents a 85.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 224,847 shares of company stock valued at $14,975,098 in the last three months. Company insiders own 1.70% of the company's stock.

Cognex Company Profile

Cognex Corporation is a leading provider of machine vision systems, software, sensors and industrial barcode readers used to automate manufacturing, logistics and distribution processes. The company designs and develops vision-based products that help manufacturers and logistics operators inspect, identify and guide parts, assemblies and packaged goods in real time. Its solutions are applied in a broad range of industries, including automotive, electronics, semiconductor, pharmaceutical, food and beverage, and general manufacturing.

The company's product portfolio includes stand-alone vision systems, vision sensors and deep learning-based software platforms that enable automated inspection, quality control and traceability.

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