Royce & Associates LP Buys 10,290 Shares of Cognex Corporation $CGNX

Royce & Associates LP lifted its stake in shares of Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 1.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,057,659 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,290 shares during the quarter. Royce & Associates LP owned about 0.63% of Cognex worth $38,055,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Cognex by 13.3% in the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 318,984 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $14,450,000 after acquiring an additional 37,405 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in Cognex by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,101,583 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $292,224,000 after acquiring an additional 76,212 shares in the last quarter. IMC Chicago LLC bought a new position in Cognex in the 3rd quarter valued at about $5,761,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in Cognex by 43.9% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,024,355 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $137,003,000 after acquiring an additional 922,149 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DAVENPORT & Co LLC lifted its position in Cognex by 19.1% in the 4th quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 477,658 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $17,186,000 after acquiring an additional 76,540 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CGNX opened at $66.09 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $11.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 78.68 and a beta of 1.48. Cognex Corporation has a 52 week low of $29.00 and a 52 week high of $71.90. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $55.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $46.82.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.09. The firm 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%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.14 EPS. Cognex has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.400-0.440 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Cognex Corporation will post 1.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be paid a $0.085 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $0.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 40.48%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Laura Ann Macdonald sold 41,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.56, for a total transaction of $2,727,296.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 5,258 shares in the company, valued at $344,714.48. This trade represents a 88.78% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Mark Fennell sold 64,873 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.05, for a total transaction of $4,349,734.65. Following the sale, the insider owned 11,263 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $755,184.15. The trade was a 85.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 204,595 shares of company stock valued at $13,631,580. Company insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CGNX has been the topic of several recent research reports. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $70.00 price target on shares of Cognex in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $63.00 price target on shares of Cognex in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Truist Financial set a $61.00 price target on shares of Cognex and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Cognex in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on shares of Cognex from $67.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $69.36.

Cognex 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.