Wall Street Zen Downgrades Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) to Hold

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) was downgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Sunday, Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also weighed in on CGNX. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $74.00 price objective (up from $72.00) on shares of Cognex in a research note on Friday, August 7th. UBS Group set a $75.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. HSBC cut shares of Cognex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $65.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Seaport Research Partners set a $75.00 price target on Cognex in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on shares of Cognex from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Cognex has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $75.64.

Cognex Stock Performance

Shares of CGNX stock opened at $59.90 on Friday. Cognex has a twelve month low of $34.60 and a twelve month high of $72.88. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $63.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $60.08. The company has a market capitalization of $10.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.16 and a beta of 1.49.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.42 by $0.03. The firm 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 business’s revenue was up 16.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $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. On average, analysts forecast that Cognex will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Cognex during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,158,123,000. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its holdings in Cognex by 7,134.0% in the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 14,032,461 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,016,231,000 after acquiring an additional 13,838,483 shares during the period. Jupiter Topco LLC bought a new position in Cognex in the 2nd quarter valued at about $161,425,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Cognex by 27.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,950,299 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $142,154,000 after acquiring an additional 842,783 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in Cognex by 81.0% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,660,411 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $130,320,000 after acquiring an additional 1,190,434 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

About Cognex

Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ: CGNX) develops machine vision technologies that help businesses automate inspection, identification, measurement and guidance tasks. Its systems enable manufacturing and logistics operations to analyze images and make decisions about products, components and packages.

The company’s product portfolio includes industrial cameras, vision sensors, barcode readers, three-dimensional vision systems and machine vision software. Cognex also offers artificial intelligence and deep-learning tools designed to address complex inspection and classification applications, along with engineering, implementation and support services.

Founded in 1981 by Robert J.