Cohu (NASDAQ:COHU) Shares Down 8.8% – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Cohu, Inc. (NASDAQ:COHU) fell 8.8% during mid-day trading on Thursday. The company traded as low as $52.15 and last traded at $53.1150. Approximately 162,214 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 85% from the average daily volume of 1,108,461 shares. The stock had previously closed at $58.24.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on COHU. Robert W. Baird assumed coverage on Cohu in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $65.00 price objective on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Cohu in a research note on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $74.00 target price on shares of Cohu in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Craig Hallum reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $74.00 target price on shares of Cohu in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Cohu from $50.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.75.

Cohu Stock Down 7.4%

The business has a 50-day moving average of $57.87 and a 200 day moving average of $53.04. The company has a market capitalization of $2.41 billion, a PE ratio of -61.22 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 5.74 and a quick ratio of 4.72.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cohu news, Director Andrew Caggia sold 15,252 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.74, for a total transaction of $789,138.48. Following the sale, the director directly owned 64,778 shares in the company, valued at $3,351,613.72. This represents a 19.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Nina Richardson sold 3,055 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.54, for a total value of $157,454.70. Following the sale, the director owned 39,093 shares in the company, valued at $2,014,853.22. The trade was a 7.25% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 134,999 shares of company stock valued at $8,321,309. Insiders own 3.05% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cohu

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Cohu during the second quarter valued at approximately $545,932,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company purchased a new stake in shares of Cohu during the 2nd quarter worth $77,814,000. Emerald Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cohu in the 1st quarter valued at about $23,887,000. Paradigm Capital Management Inc. NY acquired a new stake in Cohu in the second quarter valued at approximately $42,794,000. Finally, Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC boosted its position in shares of Cohu by 125.5% in the 1st quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 955,344 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $29,253,000 after purchasing an additional 531,661 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.67% of the company’s stock.

Cohu Company Profile

Cohu, Inc provides semiconductor test and inspection equipment, consumables and related services used by semiconductor manufacturers and outsourced semiconductor assembly and test providers. Its solutions support the testing and handling of integrated circuits throughout the manufacturing process, helping customers evaluate device performance, reliability and quality.

The company’s product portfolio includes semiconductor test handlers, inspection and metrology systems, thermal-management equipment, test contactors and other interface products.