Analysts Set Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) Target Price at $47.07

Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the seventeen research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have issued a hold recommendation, nine have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $50.7333.

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on CGNX. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Cognex from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $42.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and set a $70.00 price target (up from $50.00) on shares of Cognex in a research report on Friday. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on Cognex from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Robert W. Baird set a $45.00 price objective on Cognex in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $70.00 target price on shares of Cognex in a research note on Friday.

Cognex News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Cognex this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 earnings beat and revenue growth — Cognex reported $0.27 EPS vs. $0.22 expected and revenue of $252.3M (up ~10% YoY); the stronger-than-expected results and margin improvement were the primary upward catalyst. Earnings Beat
• Positive Sentiment: Raised Q1 guidance — management gave Q1 EPS and revenue guidance above Street estimates (EPS guide 0.220–0.260 vs. consensus ~0.200), supporting the outlook for continued recovery. Guidance & Call
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst upgrade / price target lift — Needham raised its target from $47 to $67 and kept a Buy rating, reinforcing the bullish narrative and adding buy-side momentum. Analyst Raise
• Positive Sentiment: Dividend and shareholder-friendly actions mentioned on the call — Cognex declared a quarterly dividend and discussed portfolio optimization and buyback/dividend moves that support shareholder returns. Dividend & Call Highlights
• Neutral Sentiment: Positive press and commentary — multiple outlets (Seeking Alpha, Motley Fool, Benzinga) published bullish takes on the turnaround and long-term returns; useful for sentiment but reiterative. Feature Article
• Neutral Sentiment: Short interest reporting shows no meaningful short positions in the available data (entries report zero/NaN), so short-squeeze pressure appears unlikely based on current figures.
• Negative Sentiment: Large insider sales — Director Robert Willett sold ~177k shares (~$10.3M) and VP Laura Macdonald sold ~14.9k shares (~$850k). Big insider dispositions can temper sentiment even after strong results. Insider Filings
• Negative Sentiment: Emerging AI regulation risk — Cognex added a regulatory risk disclosure related to rising AI rules that could increase compliance costs and pressure margins over time. AI Regulation Risk

Cognex Stock Performance

CGNX stock opened at $58.79 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $9.74 billion, a PE ratio of 87.75 and a beta of 1.53. Cognex has a one year low of $22.67 and a one year high of $59.88. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $39.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.58.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $252.34 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $238.92 million. Cognex had a net margin of 11.51% and a return on equity of 9.02%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.16 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Cognex will post 0.61 EPS for the current year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 26th will be issued 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, February 26th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.75%.

Insider Activity

In other Cognex news, Director Robert Willett sold 177,052 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.39, for a total transaction of $10,338,066.28. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Laura Ann Macdonald sold 14,881 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.16, for a total value of $850,597.96. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 2,212 shares in the company, valued at approximately $126,437.92. This represents a 87.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 1.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cognex

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its stake in Cognex by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 22,907 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $824,000 after buying an additional 234 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its holdings in shares of Cognex by 12.9% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 2,132 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $68,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its position in shares of Cognex by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 14,611 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $662,000 after acquiring an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Cognex by 10.6% in the 2nd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 2,788 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $88,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares during the period. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System lifted its stake in shares of Cognex by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 49,651 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $2,249,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

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.