Aviva PLC Trims Stake in Teradyne, Inc. (NASDAQ:TER)

Aviva PLC trimmed its stake in Teradyne, Inc. (NASDAQ:TER) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 33,334 shares of the company’s stock after selling 250 shares during the period. Aviva PLC’s holdings in Teradyne were worth $4,197,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Teradyne during the fourth quarter valued at about $270,989,000. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Teradyne by 59.9% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,928,143 shares of the company’s stock valued at $620,552,000 after acquiring an additional 1,846,079 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Teradyne in the 4th quarter valued at about $160,087,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Teradyne by 1,767.0% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 923,068 shares of the company’s stock valued at $116,233,000 after acquiring an additional 873,626 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its holdings in shares of Teradyne by 38.7% in the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 1,873,936 shares of the company’s stock valued at $235,966,000 after acquiring an additional 523,296 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.77% of the company’s stock.

Teradyne Trading Up 16.9 %

NASDAQ:TER opened at $79.44 on Thursday. Teradyne, Inc. has a 12 month low of $65.77 and a 12 month high of $163.21. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $97.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $113.77. The company has a market capitalization of $12.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.86, a PEG ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.65.

Teradyne (NASDAQ:TER) last posted its 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 net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 19.08%. Equities analysts forecast that Teradyne, Inc. will post 3.88 EPS for the current year.

Teradyne Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.60%. Teradyne’s dividend payout ratio is currently 14.41%.

Insider Transactions at Teradyne

In related news, CFO Sanjay Mehta sold 1,384 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.49, for a total transaction of $154,302.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 36,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,077,858.24. This represents a 3.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Richard John Burns sold 445 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.49, for a total transaction of $49,613.05. Following the completion of 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 5,399 shares of company stock valued at $612,734 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Teradyne from $145.00 to $120.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. UBS Group set a $130.00 price target on shares of Teradyne and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Northland Capmk raised shares of Teradyne from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Northland Securities lowered their price target on shares of Teradyne from $154.00 to $140.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, KeyCorp decreased their price objective on shares of Teradyne from $150.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Teradyne has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $121.44.

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.