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

Teradyne, Inc. (NASDAQ:TER - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 7,010,000 shares, a growth of 25.0% from the December 31st total of 5,610,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,400,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.9 days. Currently, 4.4% of the company's stock are sold short.

Insider Buying and Selling at Teradyne

In other news, CEO Gregory Stephen Smith sold 3,080 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.00, for a total transaction of $400,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 74,660 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,705,800. This represents a 3.96 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Sanjay Mehta sold 614 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.00, for a total value of $62,628.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 30,446 shares in the company, valued at $3,105,492. The trade was a 1.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 6,434 shares of company stock worth $785,137 over the last 90 days. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Teradyne

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in TER. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Teradyne in the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Quarry LP lifted its holdings in Teradyne by 256.1% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 235 shares of the company's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 169 shares during the last quarter. Compass Financial Services Inc bought a new position in Teradyne during the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Manchester Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 227 shares during the period. Finally, Coastline Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of Teradyne during the 3rd quarter worth about $46,000. 99.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Teradyne Stock Performance

NASDAQ:TER traded up $0.58 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $111.67. The company had a trading volume of 2,225,144 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,896,150. The firm has a market cap of $18.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.46. Teradyne has a fifty-two week low of $94.64 and a fifty-two week high of $163.21. The business's fifty day moving average is $125.38 and its two-hundred day moving average is $124.61.

Teradyne (NASDAQ:TER - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.04. Teradyne had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 19.08%. Equities analysts forecast that Teradyne will post 4.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Teradyne Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Teradyne's payout ratio is currently 14.41%.

Teradyne declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on TER shares. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Teradyne from $160.00 to $155.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Craig Hallum decreased their target price 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. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective 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. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating and set a $160.00 price target on shares of Teradyne in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $143.77.

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.