Teradyne (NASDAQ:TER) Shares Gap Down After Insider Selling

Shares of Teradyne, Inc. (NASDAQ:TER) gapped down prior to trading on Thursday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock had previously closed at $122.05, but opened at $102.00. Teradyne shares last traded at $110.66, with a volume of 1,991,735 shares changing hands.

Specifically, CFO Sanjay Mehta sold 1,789 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.51, for a total value of $215,592.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 33,308 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,013,947.08. This trade represents a 5.10 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Richard John Burns sold 407 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.51, for a total value of $49,047.57. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 20,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,502,269.64. The trade was a 1.92 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on TER. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Teradyne from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Teradyne from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $121.00 to $117.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Craig Hallum lowered their target price on Teradyne from $124.00 to $111.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Teradyne from $140.00 to $125.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $160.00 price target on shares of Teradyne in a report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $149.31.

Teradyne Stock Down 5.7 %

The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $125.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $125.64. The company has a market cap of $18.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.46.

Teradyne (NASDAQ:TER) last announced its earnings results 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 18.75% and a return on equity of 18.56%. Analysts expect that Teradyne, Inc. will post 3.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Teradyne Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Teradyne’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.24%.

Teradyne announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Monday, November 11th that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 0.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake 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 worth $620,552,000 after acquiring an additional 1,846,079 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in Teradyne by 1,767.0% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 923,068 shares of the company’s stock valued at $116,233,000 after purchasing an additional 873,626 shares during the period. Alkeon Capital Management LLC grew its position in Teradyne by 189.6% in the 3rd quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,144,017 shares of the company’s stock worth $153,218,000 after purchasing an additional 749,003 shares during the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP bought a new position in shares of Teradyne during the 3rd quarter worth about $91,129,000. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Teradyne by 16.2% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,825,897 shares of the company’s stock valued at $355,837,000 after buying an additional 393,175 shares during the last quarter. 99.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.