Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) Stock Now Rated “Moderate Buy” by Sell-Side Brokerages

Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the eighteen ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $75.50.

CGNX has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Cognex from $71.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $80.00 target price (up from $75.00) on shares of Cognex in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $74.00 price target (up from $72.00) on shares of Cognex in a report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Cognex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, September 13th.

Cognex Price Performance

NASDAQ CGNX opened at $64.97 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $10.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 63.08 and a beta of 1.48. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $62.01 and its 200 day moving average price is $60.82. Cognex has a 1 year low of $34.60 and a 1 year high of $72.88.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $291.26 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $292.10 million. Cognex had a return on equity of 13.50% and a net margin of 16.05%.The firm’s revenue was up 16.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.25 EPS. Cognex has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.640-1.680 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.500-0.540 EPS. Research analysts expect that Cognex will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 20th were given a dividend of $0.0850 per share. This represents a $0.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 20th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.01%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cognex

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CGNX. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Cognex by 124.5% in the fourth quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 98,451 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $3,542,000 after acquiring an additional 54,600 shares during the period. One Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cognex during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,945,000. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in shares of Cognex by 11.1% in the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,152,053 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $41,451,000 after purchasing an additional 114,652 shares during the period. Robinhood Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cognex in the 2nd quarter valued at $16,461,000. Finally, New Age Alpha Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Cognex during the fourth quarter worth $743,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

About Cognex

Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ: CGNX) develops machine vision products and technologies that help businesses automate manufacturing, logistics and other industrial processes. Its systems enable machines to inspect, identify, measure and guide products, components and materials with limited human intervention.

The company’s product portfolio includes industrial vision cameras, vision sensors, image-based barcode readers, three-dimensional vision systems and software for image processing and analysis.