Handelsbanken Fonder AB Grows Stock Holdings in Cognex Corporation $CGNX

Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its stake in Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 70.5% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 77,571 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 32,071 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Cognex were worth $2,461,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 52.8% in the first quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 148,636 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $4,434,000 after purchasing an additional 51,366 shares during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in Cognex during the 1st quarter valued at $2,462,000. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 36.3% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 12,288 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $367,000 after buying an additional 3,270 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its position in shares of Cognex by 126.2% during the 1st quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 4,609,802 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $137,510,000 after buying an additional 2,571,457 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. grew its position in shares of Cognex by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 701,194 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $20,917,000 after buying an additional 26,907 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Sheila Marie Dipalma sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.03, for a total transaction of $90,060.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 6,582 shares in the company, valued at approximately $296,387.46. The trade was a 23.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert Willett sold 6,704 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.51, for a total transaction of $331,915.04. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 10,706 shares of company stock valued at $512,065. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Stock Up 1.7%

NASDAQ CGNX opened at $37.76 on Wednesday. Cognex Corporation has a 52 week low of $22.67 and a 52 week high of $49.76. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $43.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.51. The firm has a market cap of $6.33 billion, a PE ratio of 59.00 and a beta of 1.52.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.06. Cognex had a net margin of 11.33% and a return on equity of 8.26%. The business had revenue of $264.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $261.86 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.20 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.0% on a year-over-year basis. Cognex has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 0.190-0.24 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Cognex Corporation will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 13th will be paid a $0.085 dividend. This represents a $0.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. This is a boost from Cognex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 13th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 53.13%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on CGNX shares. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $58.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a report on Friday, October 31st. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Cognex in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. DA Davidson set a $38.00 price target on shares of Cognex and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $56.00 price objective (up from $55.00) on shares of Cognex in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $45.00 target price on Cognex in a report on Friday, October 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.20.

Cognex Company Profile

Cognex Corporation provides machine vision products that capture and analyze visual information to automate manufacturing and distribution tasks worldwide. Its machine vision products are used to automate the manufacturing and tracking of discrete items, including mobile phones, electric vehicle batteries, and e-commerce packages by locating, identifying, inspecting, and measuring them during the manufacturing or distribution process.