Teradyne Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NASDAQ:TER)

Teradyne, Inc. (NASDAQ:TER) was the target of some unusual options trading on Monday. Investors bought 60,080 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 1,555% compared to the average daily volume of 3,631 put options.

Teradyne Stock Up 4.9 %

Teradyne stock traded up $3.35 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $72.07. The stock had a trading volume of 3,729,647 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,138,887. The company has a market cap of $11.59 billion, a PE ratio of 21.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.65. Teradyne has a fifty-two week low of $65.77 and a fifty-two week high of $163.21. The company has a 50-day moving average of $102.41 and a two-hundred day moving average of $115.55.

Teradyne (NASDAQ:TER) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.04. Teradyne had a return on equity of 19.08% and a net margin of 19.23%. As a group, analysts forecast that Teradyne will post 3.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Teradyne Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. Teradyne’s dividend payout ratio is 14.41%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Teradyne from $125.00 to $110.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Citigroup decreased their price target on Teradyne from $130.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. KeyCorp dropped their price objective on Teradyne from $150.00 to $140.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on Teradyne from $135.00 to $110.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their target price on shares of Teradyne from $150.00 to $110.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $121.44.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Sanjay Mehta sold 1,384 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Richard John Burns sold 407 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.51, for a total transaction of $49,047.57. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 20,764 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,502,269.64. The trade was a 1.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 5,399 shares of company stock valued at $612,734 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in Teradyne by 59.9% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,928,143 shares of the company’s stock worth $620,552,000 after acquiring an additional 1,846,079 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Teradyne during the fourth quarter valued at $12,118,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Teradyne by 17.6% in the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 77,092 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,325,000 after acquiring an additional 11,541 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in Teradyne by 30.5% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 88,879 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,878,000 after purchasing an additional 20,762 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in Teradyne by 16.2% during the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 30,269 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,811,000 after purchasing an additional 4,212 shares during the last quarter. 99.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Teradyne Company Profile

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.