Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Buys 8,980 Shares of Cognex Corporation $CGNX

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 3.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 265,268 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,980 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Cognex were worth $9,544,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. REAP Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Cognex in the third quarter valued at $27,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cognex by 74.8% during the third quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 764 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 327 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Cognex by 402.2% during the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 919 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 736 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cognex by 207.6% during the third quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 935 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 631 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rothschild Investment LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cognex by 21,060.0% during the third quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 1,058 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 1,053 shares during the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cognex

In other Cognex news, VP Darren Marc Long sold 20,252 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.34, for a total value of $1,343,517.68. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 3,990 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $264,696.60. This represents a 83.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Laura Ann Macdonald sold 98,122 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.80, for a total value of $6,554,549.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 5,258 shares in the company, valued at $351,234.40. The trade was a 94.91% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 224,847 shares of company stock valued at $14,975,098. 1.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Cognex Stock Down 6.0%

Shares of CGNX opened at $60.82 on Friday. Cognex Corporation has a 12-month low of $29.22 and a 12-month high of $71.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.12 billion, a PE ratio of 72.40 and a beta of 1.52. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $58.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $48.45.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.09. Cognex had a return on equity of 10.89% and a net margin of 13.62%.The business had revenue of $268.44 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $245.98 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.14 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Cognex has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.400-0.440 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Cognex Corporation will post 1.41 EPS for the current year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The business 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 of this dividend was Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $0.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.48%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on CGNX. Stephens increased their target price on Cognex from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. DA Davidson set a $62.00 target price on Cognex and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and set a $68.00 target price (up from $60.00) on shares of Cognex in a report on Friday, May 8th. Robert W. Baird set a $72.00 target price on Cognex in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Cognex in a report on Thursday, February 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.43.

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.