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

Teradyne, Inc. (NASDAQ:TER) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,610,000 shares, a growth of 24.7% from the November 30th total of 4,500,000 shares. Currently, 3.5% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 2,300,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.4 days.

Teradyne Price Performance

Shares of Teradyne stock opened at $126.70 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $114.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $128.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.51. Teradyne has a fifty-two week low of $92.29 and a fifty-two week high of $163.21.

Teradyne (NASDAQ:TER) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $737.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $716.40 million. Teradyne had a return on equity of 18.56% and a net margin of 18.75%. Teradyne’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.80 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Teradyne will post 3.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Teradyne announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Monday, November 11th that allows the company to buyback $100.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to purchase up to 0.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Teradyne Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Investors of record on Monday, November 25th were issued a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 25th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.38%. Teradyne’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.24%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Teradyne

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in TER. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Teradyne in the third quarter worth $2,221,000. MBB Public Markets I LLC acquired a new position in Teradyne during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,619,000. Cerity Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Teradyne by 87.1% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 11,371 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,523,000 after buying an additional 5,294 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 11,541 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of Teradyne by 30.5% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 88,879 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,878,000 after acquiring an additional 20,762 shares during the last quarter. 99.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on TER. Craig Hallum reduced their price target on Teradyne from $124.00 to $111.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. StockNews.com raised Teradyne from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, October 27th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Teradyne from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Northland Securities reduced their price objective on shares of Teradyne from $126.00 to $117.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of Teradyne from $140.00 to $125.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Teradyne currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $147.25.

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.