Teradyne (NASDAQ:TER) Shares Gap Down – Here’s Why

Teradyne, Inc. (NASDAQ:TER)’s stock price gapped down prior to trading on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $138.40, but opened at $135.00. Teradyne shares last traded at $130.96, with a volume of 598,834 shares changing hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on TER shares. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of Teradyne from $140.00 to $125.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Teradyne from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $145.00 to $158.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Teradyne from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Teradyne from $140.00 to $133.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Northland Capmk upgraded shares of Teradyne from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $149.31.

Teradyne Price Performance

The firm’s 50 day moving average is $122.89 and its 200 day moving average is $126.78. The firm has a market cap of $21.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.46.

Teradyne (NASDAQ:TER) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.12. Teradyne had a net margin of 18.75% and a return on equity of 18.56%. The business had revenue of $737.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $716.40 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.80 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Teradyne, Inc. will post 3.17 EPS for the current year.

Teradyne Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 25th were issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 25th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.36%. Teradyne’s payout ratio is 15.24%.

Teradyne declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Monday, November 11th that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 0.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Teradyne

In other Teradyne news, CEO Gregory Stephen Smith sold 3,080 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.00, for a total value of $400,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 74,660 shares in the company, valued at $9,705,800. This represents a 3.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Teradyne

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Custom Index Systems LLC boosted its position in shares of Teradyne by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Custom Index Systems LLC now owns 3,255 shares of the company’s stock worth $410,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Boomfish Wealth Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Teradyne by 16.7% during the fourth quarter. Boomfish Wealth Group LLC now owns 20,320 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,559,000 after acquiring an additional 2,907 shares during the last quarter. Calton & Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Teradyne during the fourth quarter worth $853,000. New England Research & Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Teradyne during the fourth quarter worth $1,130,000. Finally, Forsta AP Fonden raised its stake in Teradyne by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 35,600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,483,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. 99.77% of the stock is currently 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.