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

Shares of Teradyne, Inc. (NASDAQ:TER) 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 trading hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley downgraded Teradyne from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $121.00 to $117.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Susquehanna raised their price objective on shares of Teradyne from $145.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI lifted their price target 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. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target 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, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Teradyne from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $145.00 to $158.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $149.31.

Teradyne Stock Down 2.2 %

The stock has a market cap of $21.47 billion, a PE ratio of 41.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.46. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $122.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $126.78.

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

Teradyne Announces Dividend

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

Teradyne declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Monday, November 11th that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to buy up to 0.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity 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 value of $400,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 74,660 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,705,800. This represents a 3.96 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Teradyne

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in Teradyne in the third quarter valued at $29,000. Quarry LP increased its position in shares of Teradyne by 256.1% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 235 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 169 shares during the last quarter. Coastline Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Teradyne during the third quarter worth about $46,000. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in shares of Teradyne during the third quarter worth about $52,000. Finally, Eastern Bank bought a new stake in Teradyne in the third quarter valued at about $67,000. 99.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.