Darren Marc Long Sells 20,252 Shares of Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) Stock

Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) VP Darren Marc Long sold 20,252 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.34, for a total transaction of $1,343,517.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 3,990 shares in the company, valued at $264,696.60. The trade was a 83.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Cognex Stock Performance

CGNX stock opened at $65.85 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $56.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $47.52. Cognex Corporation has a 52 week low of $29.22 and a 52 week high of $71.90. The company has a market capitalization of $10.96 billion, a PE ratio of 78.39 and a beta of 1.48.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. Cognex had a net margin of 13.62% and a return on equity of 10.89%. The business had revenue of $268.44 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $245.98 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.14 earnings per share. Cognex’s revenue was up 24.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Cognex has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.400-0.440 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Cognex Corporation will post 1.41 EPS for the current year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 4th. Investors 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 dividend yield of 0.5%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is 40.48%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on CGNX shares. Needham & Company LLC upped their price target 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. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Cognex in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Robert W. Baird set a $72.00 price target on shares of Cognex in a research note on Friday, May 8th. UBS Group set a $75.00 price target on shares of Cognex in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $63.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a research note on Friday, February 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Cognex has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.43.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Cognex by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,598,728 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $842,522,000 after buying an additional 374,999 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its holdings in Cognex by 173,138.2% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 10,477,448 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $376,979,000 after buying an additional 10,471,400 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 76,212 shares during the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its holdings in Cognex by 27.9% in the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 7,013,184 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $252,360,000 after buying an additional 1,529,010 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Cognex by 31.0% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,314,896 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $191,231,000 after buying an additional 1,258,629 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

About Cognex

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.