Teradyne, Inc. (NASDAQ:TER) Short Interest Update

Teradyne, Inc. (NASDAQ:TER) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 7,010,000 shares, an increase of 25.0% from the December 15th total of 5,610,000 shares. Approximately 4.4% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 2,400,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.9 days.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Gregory Stephen Smith sold 3,080 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.00, for a total transaction of $400,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 74,660 shares in the company, valued at $9,705,800. The trade was a 3.96 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Teradyne

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Teradyne during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Teradyne during the third quarter worth $29,000. Quarry LP grew its holdings in shares of Teradyne by 256.1% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 235 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 169 shares during the last quarter. Coastline Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Teradyne in the 3rd quarter valued at $46,000. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new position in shares of Teradyne in the 3rd quarter valued at $52,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.77% of the company’s stock.

Teradyne Price Performance

TER opened at $137.57 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.40 billion, a PE ratio of 43.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.46. The business’s 50-day moving average is $120.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $127.34. Teradyne has a 1 year low of $92.29 and a 1 year high of $163.21.

Teradyne (NASDAQ:TER) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $737.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $716.40 million. Teradyne had a net margin of 18.75% and a return on equity of 18.56%. Teradyne’s revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.80 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Teradyne will post 3.17 EPS for the current year.

Teradyne announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Monday, November 11th that allows the company to buyback $100.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 0.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Teradyne Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 25th were paid a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.35%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 25th. Teradyne’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.24%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Teradyne from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, October 27th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Teradyne from $140.00 to $133.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Teradyne from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Northland Capmk upgraded Teradyne from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Northland Securities raised Teradyne from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $117.00 to $154.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Teradyne has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $150.33.

Teradyne Company Profile

Teradyne, Inc designs, develops, manufactures, and sells automated test systems and robotics products worldwide. It operates through four segments; Semiconductor Test, System Test, Robotics, and Wireless Test. The Semiconductor Test segment offers products and services for wafer level and device package testing of semiconductor devices in automotive, industrial, communications, consumer, smartphones, cloud, computer and electronic game, and other applications.