KBC Group NV Reduces Holdings in Cognex Corporation $CGNX

KBC Group NV reduced its position in shares of Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 32.2% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 67,409 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 32,000 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Cognex were worth $3,302,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its holdings in Cognex by 173,138.2% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 10,477,448 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $376,979,000 after purchasing an additional 10,471,400 shares in the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its holdings in Cognex by 27.9% in the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 7,013,184 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $252,360,000 after buying an additional 1,529,010 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Cognex by 31.0% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,314,896 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $191,231,000 after buying an additional 1,258,629 shares in the last quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN boosted its position in Cognex by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 4,768,716 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $151,264,000 after buying an additional 40,927 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Cognex by 27.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,950,299 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $142,154,000 after buying an additional 842,783 shares during the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cognex

In other news, VP Darren Marc Long sold 20,252 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.34, for a total value of $1,343,517.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president owned 3,990 shares in the company, valued at approximately $264,696.60. This trade represents a 83.54% decrease in their position. The sale 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 business’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 value of $4,349,734.65. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 11,263 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $755,184.15. This trade represents a 85.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 224,847 shares of company stock worth $14,975,098 over the last quarter. 1.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CGNX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 target price (up from $70.00) on shares of Cognex in a research note on Monday, May 11th. UBS Group set a $75.00 price target on Cognex in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. DA Davidson set a $62.00 price objective on Cognex and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and set a $72.00 price objective (up from $68.00) on shares of Cognex in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Cognex from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $65.00 to $75.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $72.31.

Cognex Price Performance

Shares of CGNX stock opened at $62.05 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $64.97 and a two-hundred day moving average of $55.34. The firm has a market cap of $10.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 73.87 and a beta of 1.49. Cognex Corporation has a 1-year low of $33.45 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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $268.44 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $245.98 million. Cognex had a net margin of 13.62% and a return on equity of 10.89%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.14 EPS. Cognex has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.400-0.440 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Cognex Corporation will post 1.48 EPS for the current year.

Cognex Announces Dividend

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