Short Interest in Teradyne, Inc. (NASDAQ:TER) Rises By 25.0%

Teradyne, Inc. (NASDAQ:TER) was the target of a large growth in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 7,010,000 shares, a growth of 25.0% from the December 15th total of 5,610,000 shares. Currently, 4.4% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 2,400,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.9 days.

Teradyne Stock Up 2.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ TER traded up $2.73 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $137.66. 1,449,867 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,081,987. The company has a market cap of $22.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 1.46. Teradyne has a one year low of $92.29 and a one year high of $163.21. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $120.19 and its 200-day simple moving average is $127.27.

Teradyne (NASDAQ:TER) last announced its quarterly 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 return on equity of 18.56% and a net margin of 18.75%. The business had revenue of $737.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $716.40 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.80 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Teradyne will post 3.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Teradyne Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 25th were issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 25th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.35%. Teradyne’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.24%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on TER shares. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Teradyne from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. 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. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on Teradyne from $140.00 to $133.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Craig Hallum reduced their price target on Teradyne from $124.00 to $111.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Northland Capmk raised Teradyne from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Teradyne currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $150.33.

Insider Transactions at Teradyne

In other news, CEO Gregory Stephen Smith sold 3,080 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.00, for a total value of $400,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 74,660 shares in the company, valued at $9,705,800. The trade was a 3.96 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Teradyne by 1,767.0% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 923,068 shares of the company’s stock valued at $116,233,000 after buying an additional 873,626 shares during the last quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Teradyne by 189.6% during the 3rd quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,144,017 shares of the company’s stock valued at $153,218,000 after purchasing an additional 749,003 shares during the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP acquired a new position in shares of Teradyne in the third quarter valued at about $91,129,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Teradyne by 18.2% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,432,722 shares of the company’s stock valued at $325,814,000 after purchasing an additional 374,522 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Teradyne by 5.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,880,148 shares of the company’s stock worth $921,458,000 after purchasing an additional 350,002 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.77% of the company’s stock.

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.