Robert Willett Sells 6,704 Shares of Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) Stock

Key Points

• Director Robert Willett sold 6,704 shares of Cognex at an average price of $49.51, totaling approximately $331,915.
• Cognex Corporation reported a quarterly EPS of $0.25, exceeding expectations, with a year-over-year revenue increase of 4.2%.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.08, resulting in a yield of 0.7%, and a dividend payout ratio of 45.07%.

Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX - Get Free Report) Director Robert Willett sold 6,704 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.51, for a total value of $331,915.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Cognex Stock Performance

CGNX traded down $1.98 on Wednesday, hitting $46.29. The company had a trading volume of 2,282,347 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,058,021. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $44.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $35.76. Cognex Corporation has a 12-month low of $22.67 and a 12-month high of $49.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 65.20 and a beta of 1.50.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $249.09 million during 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 company's quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.23 earnings per share. Cognex has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 0.240-0.290 EPS. Analysts forecast that Cognex Corporation will post 0.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Trading of Cognex

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CGNX. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Cognex by 439.4% in the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 971 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 791 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Cognex by 155.3% during 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 in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its position in shares of Cognex by 26.9% during the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 32,316 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $964,000 after purchasing an additional 6,847 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Cognex by 31.6% during the first quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 275,103 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $8,206,000 after purchasing an additional 66,137 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lecap Asset Management Ltd. increased its position in shares of Cognex by 115.0% during the first quarter. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. now owns 52,336 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company's stock worth $1,561,000 after purchasing an additional 27,992 shares in the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on CGNX shares. Melius raised Cognex from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $60.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Cognex in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. DA Davidson lifted their target price on Cognex from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on Cognex in a report on Monday, September 15th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $45.00 target price for the company. Finally, Truist Financial set a $45.00 target price on Cognex and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Two investment 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 given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $44.93.

Cognex Company 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.

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