Blue Trust Inc. Grows Stock Position in Cognex Corporation $CGNX

Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 32.9% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,818 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Cognex were worth $58,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in Cognex by 31.5% during the second quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,277 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 306 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Cognex by 17.6% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,223 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $66,000 after purchasing an additional 332 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cognex by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 11,591 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $346,000 after purchasing an additional 397 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC raised its holdings 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 worth $725,000 after purchasing an additional 432 shares during the period. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cognex by 17.0% in the 1st quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 3,357 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $101,000 after purchasing an additional 487 shares during the period. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on CGNX. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $37.00 price objective (up from $30.00) on shares of Cognex in a report on Monday, July 14th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Cognex in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Barclays set a $55.00 price objective on Cognex and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Melius upgraded Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, KeyCorp upgraded Cognex from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, August 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.93.

Cognex Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ CGNX opened at $46.04 on Friday. Cognex Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $22.67 and a fifty-two week high of $47.52. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $44.62 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $35.46. The firm has a market cap of $7.73 billion, a PE ratio of 64.85 and a beta of 1.50.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.02. Cognex had a return on equity of 6.65% and a net margin of 13.13%.The firm had revenue of $249.09 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $246.70 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.23 EPS. Cognex’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. Cognex has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 0.240-0.290 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Cognex Corporation will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 14th were paid a dividend of $0.08 per share. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 14th. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.07%.

Insider Activity at Cognex

In other news, EVP Sheila Marie Dipalma sold 2,002 shares of Cognex stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.00, for a total value of $90,090.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 8,582 shares in the company, valued at approximately $386,190. This trade represents a 18.92% 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. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Profile

Cognex Corporation provides machine vision products that capture and analyze visual information to automate manufacturing and distribution tasks worldwide. Its machine vision products are used to automate the manufacturing and tracking of discrete items, including mobile phones, electric vehicle batteries, and e-commerce packages by locating, identifying, inspecting, and measuring them during the manufacturing or distribution process.