Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) Lowered to “Hold” Rating by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Sunday morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Cognex from $71.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Zacks Research raised shares of Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 16th. Seaport Research Partners set a $75.00 target price on Cognex in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $91.00 target price on shares of Cognex in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Cognex from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $75.64.

Cognex Price Performance

CGNX stock opened at $64.22 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $63.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $60.07. The company has a market capitalization of $10.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 62.35 and a beta of 1.49. Cognex has a 1-year low of $34.60 and a 1-year high of $72.88.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.45 earnings per share 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 analyst estimates of $292.10 million. Cognex had a net margin of 16.05% and a return on equity of 13.50%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.25 earnings per share. Cognex has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.640-1.680 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.500-0.540 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Cognex will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th were paid a dividend of $0.085 per share. This represents a $0.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 20th. Cognex’s payout ratio is 33.01%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cognex

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CGNX. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its position in Cognex by 124.5% during the 4th 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 buying an additional 54,600 shares in the last quarter. One Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Cognex in the fourth quarter worth about $1,945,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its holdings in Cognex by 76.3% in the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 758,831 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $27,303,000 after acquiring an additional 328,427 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in shares of Cognex by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,152,053 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $41,451,000 after acquiring an additional 114,652 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its stake in shares of Cognex by 210.3% during the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 58,932 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $2,127,000 after acquiring an additional 39,937 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Company Profile

Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ: CGNX) develops machine vision technologies that help businesses automate inspection, identification, measurement and guidance tasks. Its systems enable manufacturing and logistics operations to analyze images and make decisions about products, components and packages.

The company’s product portfolio includes industrial cameras, vision sensors, barcode readers, three-dimensional vision systems and machine vision software. Cognex also offers artificial intelligence and deep-learning tools designed to address complex inspection and classification applications, along with engineering, implementation and support services.

Founded in 1981 by Robert J.