Wesbanco Bank Inc. Boosts Holdings in Cognex Corporation $CGNX

Wesbanco Bank Inc. lifted its position in Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 40.5% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 26,700 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,700 shares during the period. Wesbanco Bank Inc.’s holdings in Cognex were worth $1,308,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its holdings in Cognex by 173,138.2% during 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 purchasing an additional 10,471,400 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in Cognex by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,101,583 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $292,224,000 after purchasing an additional 76,212 shares during the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its stake in Cognex by 27.9% in the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 7,013,184 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $252,360,000 after purchasing an additional 1,529,010 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Cognex by 31.0% during the fourth 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 period. Finally, Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN boosted its position in shares of Cognex by 0.9% during the second quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 4,768,716 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $151,264,000 after buying an additional 40,927 shares during the period. 88.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Laura Ann Macdonald sold 41,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.56, for a total value of $2,727,296.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 5,258 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $344,714.48. The trade was a 88.78% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Mark Fennell sold 64,873 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.05, for a total value of $4,349,734.65. Following the sale, the insider owned 11,263 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $755,184.15. This trade represents a 85.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 224,847 shares of company stock worth $14,975,098 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Price Performance

NASDAQ:CGNX opened at $66.56 on Friday. Cognex Corporation has a 1-year low of $31.19 and a 1-year high of $71.90. The company has a 50-day moving average of $62.32 and a 200 day moving average of $51.28. The firm has a market cap of $11.08 billion, a PE ratio of 79.24 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 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter last year, the firm 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. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Cognex Corporation will post 1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 21st were paid a $0.085 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $0.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. Cognex’s payout ratio is 40.48%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on CGNX shares. Stephens increased their price target on Cognex from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 price objective (up from $70.00) on shares of Cognex in a report on Monday, May 11th. Zacks Research upgraded Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 16th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on Cognex from $67.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, DA Davidson set a $62.00 price target on shares of Cognex and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.