Cognex Corporation $CGNX Shares Bought by Vontobel Holding Ltd.

Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 56.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 68,184 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after acquiring an additional 24,607 shares during the quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in Cognex were worth $3,089,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in Cognex by 148.5% during the second quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,075,772 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $223,594,000 after purchasing an additional 4,228,729 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Cognex by 18,810.9% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,794,649 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $56,657,000 after buying an additional 1,785,159 shares during the last quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Cognex in the 2nd quarter worth about $45,723,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Cognex in the 2nd quarter valued at about $38,889,000. Finally, Electron Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Cognex by 286.5% during the second quarter. Electron Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,337,608 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $42,429,000 after acquiring an additional 991,567 shares during the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on CGNX. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Cognex from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $42.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Cognex from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on shares of Cognex from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $58.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cognex has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $45.79.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Robert Willett sold 6,704 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.51, for a total value of $331,915.04. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Price Performance

Shares of CGNX stock opened at $36.55 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $39.30 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $39.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.11 and a beta of 1.53. Cognex Corporation has a 12 month low of $22.67 and a 12 month high of $49.76.

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

Cognex Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 13th were given a dividend of $0.085 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 13th. This is an increase from Cognex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $0.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is 53.13%.

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.