Bessemer Group Inc. Sells 15,274 Shares of Cognex Corporation $CGNX

Bessemer Group Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 45.6% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 18,200 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 15,274 shares during the quarter. Bessemer Group Inc.’s holdings in Cognex were worth $577,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted 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 valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 736 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Cognex by 155.3% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,062 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 646 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its stake in Cognex by 231.9% during the second quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,082 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 756 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 306 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd boosted its stake in Cognex by 82.6% during the first quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 1,749 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 791 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Cognex Stock Performance

Shares of Cognex stock opened at $41.39 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.95 billion, a PE ratio of 64.67 and a beta of 1.50. Cognex Corporation has a 52-week low of $22.67 and a 52-week high of $49.76. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $45.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.06.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $276.89 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $261.86 million. Cognex had a net margin of 11.33% and a return on equity of 8.26%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.20 earnings per share. Cognex has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 0.190-0.24 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Cognex Corporation will post 0.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Cognex Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.085 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 13th. This is a positive change from Cognex’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $0.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.00%.

Insider Activity at Cognex

In other news, Director Robert Willett sold 6,704 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.51, for a total transaction of $331,915.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Sheila Marie Dipalma sold 2,002 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $45.00, for a total transaction of $90,090.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 8,582 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $386,190. The trade was a 18.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 10,706 shares of company stock valued at $512,065 over the last three months. 1.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on CGNX shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on shares of Cognex in a research note on Monday, September 15th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $45.00 price objective on the stock. Melius raised shares of Cognex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Cognex in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on shares of Cognex from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Truist Financial set a $45.00 price objective on shares of Cognex and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Cognex currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.00.

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.