Cognex Corporation $CGNX Shares Sold by New York State Teachers Retirement System

New York State Teachers Retirement System decreased its holdings in Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 5.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 162,169 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 8,849 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned 0.10% of Cognex worth $7,945,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in Cognex by 402.2% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 919 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 736 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cognex by 74.8% in the 3rd quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 764 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 327 shares during the period. Miller Global Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cognex in the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd bought a new position in shares of Cognex in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Cognex by 202.7% during the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,105 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 740 shares during the period. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on CGNX. Wall Street Zen raised Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. DA Davidson set a $62.00 target price on Cognex and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Robert W. Baird set a $72.00 price target on shares of Cognex in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on shares of Cognex from $67.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Cognex in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $71.14.

Insider Transactions at Cognex

In other news, VP Darren Marc Long sold 20,252 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the vice president owned 3,990 shares in the company, valued at $264,696.60. The trade was a 83.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Mark Fennell sold 64,873 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.05, for a total transaction of $4,349,734.65. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 11,263 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $755,184.15. This trade represents a 85.21% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 224,847 shares of company stock valued at $14,975,098 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Trading Down 9.1%

Shares of NASDAQ CGNX traded down $6.34 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $63.15. The company had a trading volume of 586,553 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,241,143. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $64.11 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $52.76. The stock has a market cap of $10.51 billion, a PE ratio of 75.13 and a beta of 1.49. Cognex Corporation has a 1-year low of $32.09 and a 1-year 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 for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $268.44 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $245.98 million. Cognex had a return on equity of 10.89% and a net margin of 13.62%.Cognex’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.14 EPS. Cognex has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.400-0.440 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Cognex Corporation will post 1.49 EPS for the current year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 4th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 21st were given a $0.085 dividend. This represents a $0.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 21st. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 40.48%.

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.