Short Interest in Teradyne, Inc. (NASDAQ:TER) Rises By 24.7%

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

Teradyne Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ TER traded down $2.30 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $128.54. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,640,227 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,096,839. Teradyne has a 12 month low of $92.29 and a 12 month high of $163.21. The stock has a market cap of $20.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 1.51. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $114.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $128.50.

Teradyne (NASDAQ:TER - Get Free Report) 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 firm 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%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.80 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Teradyne will post 3.17 EPS for the current year.

Teradyne declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Monday, November 11th that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 0.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Teradyne Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 25th were given a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 25th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.37%. Teradyne's dividend payout ratio is 15.24%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Teradyne

In other Teradyne news, Director Mercedes Johnson sold 625 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.80, for a total transaction of $83,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 15,893 shares in the company, valued at $2,110,590.40. This trade represents a 3.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Richard John Burns sold 789 shares of Teradyne stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.80, for a total value of $104,779.20. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 21,864 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,903,539.20. This trade represents a 3.48 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 4,494 shares of company stock valued at $596,803 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.36% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Teradyne

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Teradyne by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,880,148 shares of the company's stock worth $921,458,000 after acquiring an additional 350,002 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Teradyne by 1.3% during the second quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 4,603,123 shares of the company's stock valued at $682,597,000 after purchasing an additional 57,989 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Teradyne by 5.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,011,131 shares of the company's stock worth $535,484,000 after purchasing an additional 209,868 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in Teradyne by 6.3% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 3,082,064 shares of the company's stock worth $383,501,000 after purchasing an additional 183,721 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its position in Teradyne by 18.2% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,432,722 shares of the company's stock valued at $325,814,000 after buying an additional 374,522 shares during the period. 99.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on TER shares. StockNews.com upgraded Teradyne from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday, October 27th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Teradyne from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Craig Hallum cut their price objective on shares of Teradyne from $124.00 to $111.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on shares of Teradyne from $140.00 to $133.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Teradyne from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price target for the company from $145.00 to $158.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Teradyne currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $147.25.

Teradyne Company Profile

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.