AlphaQuest LLC Increases Stake in Cognex Corporation $CGNX

AlphaQuest LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 15,870.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 48,230 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after acquiring an additional 47,928 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC’s holdings in Cognex were worth $1,530,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 148.5% during the 2nd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,075,772 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $223,594,000 after acquiring an additional 4,228,729 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 32.0% during the 1st quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,082,319 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $181,436,000 after acquiring an additional 1,474,832 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 126.2% during the 1st quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 4,609,802 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $137,510,000 after acquiring an additional 2,571,457 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Cognex by 34.3% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,539,557 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $75,756,000 after acquiring an additional 647,955 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in Cognex by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,131,538 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $63,584,000 after purchasing an additional 38,857 shares in the last quarter. 88.12% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Sheila Marie Dipalma sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.03, for a total transaction of $90,060.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 6,582 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $296,387.46. This trade represents a 23.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert Willett sold 6,704 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.51, for a total transaction of $331,915.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 10,706 shares of company stock valued at $512,065 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial set a $45.00 target price on shares of Cognex and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Barclays set a $55.00 target price on shares of Cognex and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $37.00 target price (up previously from $30.00) on shares of Cognex in a research report on Monday, July 14th. DA Davidson increased their target price on shares of Cognex from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Cognex from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 16th. Two 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 given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.93.

Cognex Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ:CGNX opened at $48.35 on Friday. Cognex Corporation has a 52-week low of $22.67 and a 52-week high of $49.76. The company has a market capitalization of $8.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 68.10 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a 50 day moving average of $45.12 and a two-hundred day moving average of $36.17.

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

Cognex Announces Dividend

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

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.