Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Cuts Stock Holdings in Teradyne, Inc. (NASDAQ:TER)

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund trimmed its stake in Teradyne, Inc. (NASDAQ:TER) by 3.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,750 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,000 shares during the period. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in Teradyne were worth $3,872,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Teradyne by 11,687.8% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 173,635 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,255,000 after buying an additional 172,162 shares in the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its stake in Teradyne by 4.5% in the third quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 9,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,232,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Forsta AP Fonden raised its position in Teradyne by 20.4% during the third quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 33,600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,500,000 after purchasing an additional 5,700 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in Teradyne by 1.3% during the third quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 10,255 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,373,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Inscription Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Teradyne in the 3rd quarter worth about $209,000. 99.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Teradyne news, CFO Sanjay Mehta sold 1,384 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.49, for a total value of $154,302.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 36,576 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,077,858.24. This represents a 3.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Richard John Burns sold 445 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.49, for a total value of $49,613.05. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 25,191 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,808,544.59. This represents a 1.74 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 8,479 shares of company stock valued at $1,013,134 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group dropped their target price on Teradyne from $160.00 to $155.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Teradyne from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $121.00 to $117.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Northland Securities reduced their target price on shares of Teradyne from $154.00 to $140.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Northland Capmk raised shares of Teradyne from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $160.00 price objective on shares of Teradyne in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Teradyne presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $143.77.

Teradyne Stock Performance

NASDAQ TER opened at $111.35 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $18.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.45. Teradyne, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $95.80 and a fifty-two week high of $163.21. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $124.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $122.91.

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

Teradyne declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Monday, November 11th that allows the company to buyback $100.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to buy up to 0.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Teradyne Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Teradyne’s dividend payout ratio is currently 14.41%.

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.