Teradyne, Inc. (NASDAQ:TER) Shares Sold by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its position in Teradyne, Inc. (NASDAQ:TER) by 41.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 234,423 shares of the company’s stock after selling 168,245 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Teradyne were worth $29,519,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of TER. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in Teradyne during the third quarter worth $29,000. Compass Financial Services Inc purchased a new position in Teradyne during the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Manchester Capital Management LLC increased its position in Teradyne by 264.0% during the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 313 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 227 shares in the last quarter. Coastline Trust Co purchased a new position in Teradyne during the third quarter worth $46,000. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in Teradyne during the third quarter worth $52,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.77% of the company’s stock.

Teradyne Trading Down 2.2 %

TER stock opened at $115.91 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $124.99 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $122.99. Teradyne, Inc. has a 12-month low of $95.80 and a 12-month high of $163.21. The company has a market cap of $18.88 billion, a PE ratio of 34.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.45.

Teradyne (NASDAQ:TER) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.04. Teradyne had a return on equity of 19.08% and a net margin of 19.23%. Equities analysts forecast that Teradyne, Inc. will post 3.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Teradyne declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Monday, November 11th that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 0.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Teradyne Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Teradyne’s dividend payout ratio is presently 14.41%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Teradyne news, insider Richard John Burns sold 445 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.49, for a total transaction of $49,613.05. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 25,191 shares in the company, valued at $2,808,544.59. The trade was a 1.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Gregory Stephen Smith sold 3,080 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.00, for a total value of $400,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 74,660 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,705,800. This represents a 3.96 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 8,479 shares of company stock worth $1,013,134 over the last quarter. 0.36% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on TER shares. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $160.00 price target on shares of Teradyne in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Northland Capmk raised Teradyne from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Northland Securities dropped their price target on Teradyne from $154.00 to $140.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Teradyne from $158.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on Teradyne from $160.00 to $155.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $143.77.

About Teradyne

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.