William Blair Investment Management LLC Takes Position in Cognex Corporation $CGNX

William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 910,938 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,970,000.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its position in Cognex by 124.5% during the fourth quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 98,451 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $3,542,000 after acquiring an additional 54,600 shares during the last quarter. One Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cognex in the 4th quarter worth about $1,945,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 76.3% in the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 758,831 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $27,303,000 after acquiring an additional 328,427 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in shares of Cognex by 11.1% during the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,152,053 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $41,451,000 after purchasing an additional 114,652 shares during the period. Finally, M&T Bank Corp boosted its stake in shares of Cognex by 58.0% during the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 80,511 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $2,897,000 after purchasing an additional 29,546 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cognex

In related news, VP Darren Marc Long sold 20,252 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.34, for a total transaction of $1,343,517.68. Following the sale, the vice president owned 3,990 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $264,696.60. This trade represents 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 through this link. 1.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CGNX has been the topic of several analyst reports. UBS Group set a $75.00 price target on shares of Cognex in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. HSBC downgraded shares of Cognex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $65.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $80.00 target price (up from $75.00) on shares of Cognex in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on Cognex from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Cognex presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $75.64.

Cognex Price Performance

NASDAQ:CGNX opened at $60.54 on Friday. Cognex Corporation has a 1-year low of $34.60 and a 1-year high of $72.88. The company has a 50-day moving average of $64.92 and a 200 day moving average of $58.76. The firm has a market cap of $10.18 billion, a PE ratio of 58.78 and a beta of 1.49.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $291.26 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $292.10 million. Cognex had a net margin of 16.05% and a return on equity of 13.50%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.25 EPS. Cognex has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.640-1.680 EPS and its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.500-0.540 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Cognex Corporation will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.085 per share. This represents a $0.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 20th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is 33.01%.

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.