SG Americas Securities LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Cognex Corporation $CGNX

SG Americas Securities LLC reduced its position in shares of Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 76.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 14,378 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 46,278 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Cognex were worth $651,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Royal Bank of Canada increased its holdings in shares of Cognex by 13.2% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 200,351 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $5,976,000 after buying an additional 23,326 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new position in Cognex in the first quarter worth about $291,000. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Cognex by 24.1% during the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 47,444 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,415,000 after acquiring an additional 9,223 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in Cognex by 402.2% during 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 period. Finally, Voya Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cognex by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 24,301 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $725,000 after purchasing an additional 432 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Price Performance

Shares of Cognex stock opened at $40.41 on Thursday. Cognex Corporation has a 1 year low of $22.67 and a 1 year high of $49.76. The stock has a market cap of $6.77 billion, a PE ratio of 63.14 and a beta of 1.52. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $37.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $40.46.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.06. Cognex had a return on equity of 8.26% and a net margin of 11.33%.The business had revenue of $264.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $261.86 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.20 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 18.0% on a year-over-year basis. Cognex has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 0.190-0.24 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Cognex Corporation will post 0.61 EPS for the current year.

Cognex Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 13th were issued a dividend of $0.085 per share. This is a positive change from Cognex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 13th. This represents a $0.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Cognex’s payout ratio is presently 53.13%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CGNX has been the topic of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated an “underweight” rating and set a $35.00 price target (down previously from $45.00) on shares of Cognex in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. DA Davidson set a $38.00 target price on shares of Cognex and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Cognex from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $42.00 to $50.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 16th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Cognex in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Barclays set a $54.00 price objective on shares of Cognex and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $45.64.

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.