Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Acquires 16,651 Shares of Cognex Corporation $CGNX

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its holdings in Cognex Corporation (NASDAQ:CGNX) by 44.0% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 54,462 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after acquiring an additional 16,651 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC’s holdings in Cognex were worth $2,668,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cognex during the first quarter valued at approximately $250,000. Wesbanco Bank Inc. boosted its holdings in Cognex by 40.5% in the first quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 26,700 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,308,000 after purchasing an additional 7,700 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in Cognex in the 1st quarter worth approximately $2,352,000. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Cognex in the 1st quarter worth approximately $267,000. Finally, Banque Cantonale Vaudoise purchased a new stake in Cognex during the 1st quarter valued at $207,000. Institutional investors own 88.12% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on CGNX. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $75.00 price target (up from $64.00) on shares of Cognex in a report on Monday, May 11th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Cognex in a research report on Friday, May 15th. UBS Group set a $75.00 target price on Cognex in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and set a $68.00 price target (up from $60.00) on shares of Cognex in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Stephens upped their price target on shares of Cognex from $65.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cognex presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $71.14.

Cognex Stock Performance

Shares of Cognex stock opened at $64.11 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $10.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 76.32 and a beta of 1.49. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $64.49 and its 200 day moving average is $53.16. Cognex Corporation has a one year low of $32.55 and a one year high of $72.88.

Cognex (NASDAQ:CGNX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $268.44 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $245.98 million. Cognex had a return on equity of 10.89% and a net margin of 13.62%.Cognex’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.14 earnings per share. Cognex has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.400-0.440 EPS. Analysts predict that Cognex Corporation will post 1.48 EPS for the current year.

Cognex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 21st were paid a dividend of $0.085 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $0.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Cognex’s payout ratio is 40.48%.

Insider Activity at Cognex

In related news, VP Darren Marc Long sold 20,252 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.34, for a total value of $1,343,517.68. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 3,990 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $264,696.60. This represents a 83.54% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Mark Fennell sold 64,873 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.05, for a total transaction of $4,349,734.65. Following the sale, the insider owned 11,263 shares in the company, valued at approximately $755,184.15. The trade was a 85.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 224,847 shares of company stock worth $14,975,098. 1.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.