Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Boosts Holdings in Cognex Corporation $CGNX

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its holdings in Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 9.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 293,191 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after purchasing an additional 26,237 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Cognex were worth $10,549,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CGNX. REAP Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cognex in the third quarter worth about $27,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Cognex by 402.2% in the first 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 period. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC raised its position in shares of Cognex by 74.8% in the third quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 764 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 327 shares during the period. Miller Global Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cognex in the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Cognex by 207.6% in the third quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 935 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 631 shares during the period. 88.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CGNX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Truist Financial set a $61.00 price objective on shares of Cognex and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a research report on Friday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Cognex from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $75.00 price objective on shares of Cognex in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 price target (up from $70.00) on shares of Cognex in a research report on Monday, May 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $69.36.

Cognex Stock Down 2.0%

CGNX opened at $60.65 on Wednesday. Cognex Corporation has a twelve month low of $29.00 and a twelve month high of $71.90. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $54.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $46.15. The company has a market cap of $10.09 billion, a PE ratio of 72.20 and a beta of 1.48.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $268.44 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $245.98 million. Cognex had a net margin of 13.62% and a return on equity of 10.89%. Cognex’s quarterly revenue was up 24.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.14 EPS. Cognex has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.400-0.440 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Cognex Corporation will post 1.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 4th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 21st will be issued a $0.085 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $0.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.6%. Cognex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.48%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cognex

In other Cognex news, insider Mark Fennell sold 64,873 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $755,184.15. This represents a 85.21% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Laura Ann Macdonald sold 41,600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.56, for a total transaction of $2,727,296.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 5,258 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $344,714.48. The trade was a 88.78% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 208,745 shares of company stock worth $13,862,237. 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.