Meros Investment Management LP Purchases New Position in Cohu, Inc. $COHU

Meros Investment Management LP purchased a new stake in Cohu, Inc. (NASDAQ:COHU) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 190,686 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,093,602,000. Cohu accounts for about 4.5% of Meros Investment Management LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Meros Investment Management LP owned about 0.40% of Cohu at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new stake in Cohu during the 1st quarter worth approximately $705,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Cohu by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,361,164 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $101,484,000 after buying an additional 57,618 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC increased its position in Cohu by 349.3% during the 4th quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC now owns 302,838 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $7,047,000 after buying an additional 235,438 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in Cohu during the 1st quarter worth $634,000. Finally, Leeward Investments LLC MA lifted its holdings in shares of Cohu by 4.0% during the first quarter. Leeward Investments LLC MA now owns 646,133 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $19,785,000 after buying an additional 24,755 shares in the last quarter. 94.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Cohu from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $53.00 price objective on shares of Cohu in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Craig Hallum reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $74.00 price objective on shares of Cohu in a report on Friday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Cohu in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, B. Riley Financial raised their target price on shares of Cohu from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Cohu has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $68.75.

Cohu Trading Down 1.3%

COHU opened at $50.61 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -60.98 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a quick ratio of 4.72, a current ratio of 5.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. Cohu, Inc. has a twelve month low of $18.67 and a twelve month high of $74.60. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $56.33 and a 200 day simple moving average of $45.57.

Cohu (NASDAQ:COHU) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The semiconductor company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.12. Cohu had a negative net margin of 7.43% and a negative return on equity of 1.96%. The company had revenue of $149.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $144.20 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.02 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 38.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Cohu, Inc. will post 0.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Cohu

In other Cohu news, Director Nina Richardson sold 3,055 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.54, for a total transaction of $157,454.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 39,093 shares in the company, valued at $2,014,853.22. The trade was a 7.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Christopher Bohrson sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.82, for a total value of $558,200.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 159,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,914,565.64. The trade was a 5.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold 30,307 shares of company stock valued at $1,630,573 over the last three months. 3.05% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Cohu Profile

Cohu, Inc is a global provider of semiconductor test and inspection solutions, offering a broad portfolio of products designed to support chip manufacturers, outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) providers, and electronics original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). The company’s product lineup includes automatic test handlers, wafer probers, test sockets, thermal subassembly systems and burn-in boards, all engineered to optimize throughput, accuracy and reliability in semiconductor production and final test.

Founded in 1947 and headquartered in Poway, California, Cohu has grown through both organic development and targeted acquisitions to become a recognized leader in test handling and interconnect technologies.