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

Teradyne, Inc. (NASDAQ:TER) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 6,750,000 shares, a growth of 18.2% from the February 13th total of 5,710,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,830,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.4 days. Approximately 4.3% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Gregory Stephen Smith sold 3,080 shares of Teradyne stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.00, for a total transaction of $400,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 74,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,705,800. This trade represents a 3.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Sanjay Mehta sold 1,384 shares of Teradyne stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.49, for a total transaction of $154,302.16. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 36,576 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,077,858.24. This represents a 3.65 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 8,479 shares of company stock valued at $1,013,134. Insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Teradyne

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of TER. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Teradyne in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $270,989,000. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of Teradyne by 59.9% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,928,143 shares of the company’s stock valued at $620,552,000 after purchasing an additional 1,846,079 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Teradyne in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $160,087,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in Teradyne by 28.3% during the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,828,689 shares of the company’s stock valued at $608,025,000 after acquiring an additional 1,065,474 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in Teradyne by 142.6% during the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,522,537 shares of the company’s stock valued at $191,718,000 after acquiring an additional 894,849 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on TER shares. Susquehanna reduced their price target on shares of Teradyne from $165.00 to $155.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Teradyne from $135.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Teradyne from $140.00 to $110.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Teradyne from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $121.44.

Teradyne Stock Performance

Teradyne stock opened at $88.87 on Wednesday. Teradyne has a fifty-two week low of $82.98 and a fifty-two week high of $163.21. The stock has a market cap of $14.37 billion, a PE ratio of 26.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.46. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $115.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $119.55.

Teradyne (NASDAQ:TER) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, analysts predict that Teradyne will post 3.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Teradyne Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. Teradyne’s dividend payout ratio is 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.