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

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.

Specifically, CFO Sanjay Mehta sold 1,789 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.51, for a total transaction of $215,592.39. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Richard John Burns sold 407 shares of Teradyne stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.51, for a total transaction of $49,047.57. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 20,764 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,502,269.64. The trade was a 1.92 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. KeyCorp dropped their price objective on shares of Teradyne from $180.00 to $150.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $160.00 price target on shares of Teradyne in a research note on Thursday. Craig Hallum lowered their price objective on Teradyne from $124.00 to $111.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. StockNews.com upgraded Teradyne from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, October 27th. Finally, Susquehanna raised their price objective on Teradyne from $145.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Teradyne has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $143.77.

Teradyne Stock Up 0.6 %

The firm has a market cap of $18.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.46. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $125.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $125.34.

Teradyne (NASDAQ:TER) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.04. Teradyne had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 19.23%. As a group, analysts forecast that Teradyne, Inc. will post 4.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Teradyne Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.41%. Teradyne’s dividend payout ratio is currently 14.41%.

Teradyne declared that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Monday, November 11th that permits the company to buyback $100.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 0.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Whittier Trust Co. grew its position in Teradyne by 10.2% during the third quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 950 shares of the company’s stock valued at $127,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its position in shares of Teradyne by 10.2% during the third quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 1,115 shares of the company’s stock valued at $149,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its position in shares of Teradyne by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 6,403 shares of the company’s stock worth $858,000 after buying an additional 104 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Teradyne by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,445 shares of the company’s stock worth $434,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the period. Finally, TD Private Client Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Teradyne by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 19,904 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,666,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.77% of the company’s stock.

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.