Los Angeles Capital Management LLC Increases Position in Cognex Corporation $CGNX

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 2.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 419,164 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after buying an additional 8,272 shares during the quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC owned about 0.25% of Cognex worth $15,082,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. REAP Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Cognex in the third quarter valued at $27,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its holdings in Cognex by 74.8% in the third quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 764 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 327 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Cognex by 402.2% in the first quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 919 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 736 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Cognex by 207.6% in the third quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 935 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 631 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rothschild Investment LLC boosted its holdings in Cognex by 21,060.0% in the third quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 1,058 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 1,053 shares during the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Cognex

In other news, insider Mark Fennell sold 64,873 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.05, for a total transaction of $4,349,734.65. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 11,263 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $755,184.15. This represents a 85.21% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP Laura Ann Macdonald sold 41,600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.56, for a total transaction of $2,727,296.00. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 5,258 shares in the company, valued at approximately $344,714.48. The trade was a 88.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 224,847 shares of company stock valued at $14,975,098 in the last ninety days. 1.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Cognex Price Performance

CGNX stock opened at $60.82 on Monday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $58.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $48.54. Cognex Corporation has a 52-week low of $29.22 and a 52-week high of $71.90. The firm has a market cap of $10.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 72.40 and a beta of 1.52.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 analyst estimates of $245.98 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.14 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.3% on a year-over-year basis. Cognex has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.400-0.440 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Cognex Corporation will post 1.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 4th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 21st were paid a dividend of $0.085 per share. This represents a $0.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 21st. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.48%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on CGNX. Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $68.00 price target (up from $60.00) on shares of Cognex in a report on Friday, May 8th. Truist Financial set a $61.00 price target on shares of Cognex and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Cognex from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $65.00 to $75.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, 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 report on Friday, May 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.43.

Cognex Company Profile

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.