Welch & Forbes LLC Sells 7,745 Shares of Cognex Corporation $CGNX

Welch & Forbes LLC decreased its holdings in Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 2.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 322,893 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 7,745 shares during the period. Welch & Forbes LLC owned about 0.19% of Cognex worth $15,819,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its position in shares of Cognex by 2,893.9% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 99,937 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $4,896,000 after buying an additional 96,599 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Cognex by 8.8% in the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 12,879 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $631,000 after buying an additional 1,044 shares during the last quarter. Peterson Wealth Services raised its position in Cognex by 25.8% in the 1st quarter. Peterson Wealth Services now owns 5,149 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $252,000 after buying an additional 1,055 shares during the last quarter. Granite Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in Cognex during the 1st quarter valued at about $7,202,000. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its stake in Cognex by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,410,151 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $69,083,000 after acquiring an additional 27,384 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Trading Up 1.6%

Cognex stock traded up $1.04 during trading on Friday, reaching $66.80. The company had a trading volume of 1,693,045 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,317,232. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 79.52 and a beta of 1.49. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $64.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $53.45. Cognex Corporation has a 52 week low of $32.55 and a 52 week high of $72.88.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.09. Cognex had a return on equity of 10.89% and a net margin of 13.62%.The business had revenue of $268.44 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $245.98 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.14 earnings per share. Cognex’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 predict that Cognex Corporation will post 1.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 21st were issued a dividend of $0.085 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $0.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. Cognex’s payout ratio is currently 40.48%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Laura Ann Macdonald sold 98,122 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.80, for a total value of $6,554,549.60. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 5,258 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $351,234.40. This represents a 94.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Darren Marc Long sold 20,252 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.34, for a total transaction of $1,343,517.68. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 3,990 shares in the company, valued at approximately $264,696.60. This trade represents a 83.54% decrease in their position. 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 three months. 1.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CGNX has been the subject of several research reports. Zacks Research raised shares of Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. Seaport Research Partners set a $75.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $75.00 target price on shares of Cognex in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Cognex in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $68.00 target price (up from $60.00) on shares of Cognex in a report on Friday, May 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $72.00.

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.