Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Teradyne Put Options (NASDAQ:TER)

Teradyne, Inc. (NASDAQ:TER) saw unusually large options trading on Monday. Traders bought 60,080 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of 1,555% compared to the average daily volume of 3,631 put options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Sanjay Mehta sold 1,789 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.51, for a total transaction of $215,592.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 33,308 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,013,947.08. This represents a 5.10 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Ryan Driscoll sold 437 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.00, for a total transaction of $44,574.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 4,312 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $439,824. This trade represents a 9.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 5,399 shares of company stock worth $612,734. Corporate insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Teradyne

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Compass Financial Services Inc purchased a new position in Teradyne in the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new stake in shares of Teradyne during the 4th quarter worth $34,000. AllSquare Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Teradyne by 200.0% during the fourth quarter. AllSquare Wealth Management LLC now owns 300 shares of the company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Teradyne by 264.0% in the fourth quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 313 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 227 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new stake in Teradyne in the fourth quarter valued at $45,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.77% of the company’s stock.

Teradyne Stock Performance

Teradyne stock opened at $67.96 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $10.93 billion, a PE ratio of 20.41, 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 firm has a 50 day moving average price of $99.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $114.37.

Teradyne (NASDAQ:TER) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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, equities research analysts forecast that Teradyne will post 3.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Teradyne Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.71%. Teradyne’s payout ratio is 14.41%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on TER shares. Northland Securities cut their price target on Teradyne from $154.00 to $140.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America cut their target price on Teradyne from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped 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. Vertical Research initiated coverage on shares of Teradyne in a research note on Friday, March 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $135.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Susquehanna decreased their target price on shares of Teradyne from $165.00 to $155.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, twelve have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Teradyne presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $121.44.

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.