Teradyne, Inc. (NASDAQ:TER) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Teradyne, Inc. (NASDAQ:TER) saw a significant increase in short interest in November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 4,500,000 shares, an increase of 28.9% from the November 15th total of 3,490,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,110,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.1 days. Approximately 2.8% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

TER has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Teradyne from $140.00 to $125.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. StockNews.com upgraded Teradyne from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, October 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Teradyne from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $160.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, August 16th. Northland Securities reduced their target price on shares of Teradyne from $126.00 to $117.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Teradyne from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $142.62.

Teradyne Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ TER traded up $2.27 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $123.22. The company had a trading volume of 3,953,845 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,069,738. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.51. Teradyne has a 1-year low of $92.29 and a 1-year high of $163.21. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $115.18 and its 200-day moving average is $129.64.

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

Teradyne announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Monday, November 11th that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to buy up to 0.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Teradyne Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 25th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.39%. Teradyne’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.24%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Gregory Stephen Smith sold 3,080 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.80, for a total transaction of $409,024.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 80,736 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,721,740.80. This represents a 3.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Richard John Burns sold 789 shares of Teradyne stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.80, for a total value of $104,779.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 21,864 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,903,539.20. The trade was a 3.48 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 4,494 shares of company stock worth $596,803. 0.36% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Teradyne

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Whittier Trust Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Teradyne by 10.2% during the third quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 950 shares of the company’s stock worth $127,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the period. Wealth Alliance raised its position in shares of Teradyne by 3.3% in the second quarter. Wealth Alliance now owns 3,044 shares of the company’s stock valued at $451,000 after buying an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Teradyne by 10.2% in the third quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 1,115 shares of the company’s stock valued at $149,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its position in Teradyne by 1.7% during the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 6,403 shares of the company’s stock worth $858,000 after buying an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Private Client Wealth LLC increased its stake in Teradyne by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 19,904 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,666,000 after acquiring an additional 108 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.77% of the company’s stock.

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.