Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Purchases 27,384 Shares of Cognex Corporation $CGNX

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its position in Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 2.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,410,151 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 27,384 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned 0.84% of Cognex worth $69,083,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in shares of Cognex by 13.2% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 200,351 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $5,976,000 after buying an additional 23,326 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cognex in the first quarter worth approximately $291,000. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cognex by 24.1% during the 1st 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. lifted its stake in shares of Cognex by 402.2% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 919 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 736 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in Cognex by 7.5% during the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 13,208 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $419,000 after acquiring an additional 920 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Stock Performance

CGNX traded up $1.04 during trading on Friday, hitting $66.80. 1,693,045 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,317,232. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $64.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $53.45. The firm has a market cap of $11.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 79.52 and a beta of 1.49. Cognex Corporation has a 1 year low of $32.55 and a 1 year high of $72.88.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 analysts’ expectations of $245.98 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.14 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Cognex has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.400-0.440 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Cognex Corporation will post 1.48 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 21st were paid a $0.085 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $0.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is 40.48%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CGNX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. UBS Group set a $75.00 price objective on Cognex in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on Cognex from $61.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $75.00 target price on shares of Cognex in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $68.00 price target (up from $60.00) on shares of Cognex in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $80.00 price target (up from $70.00) on shares of Cognex in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $72.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Laura Ann Macdonald sold 98,122 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owned 5,258 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $351,234.40. This represents a 94.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Mark Fennell sold 64,873 shares of the 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 transaction, the insider owned 11,263 shares in the company, valued at approximately $755,184.15. This represents a 85.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 224,847 shares of company stock worth $14,975,098 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.70% 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.