Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Takes Position in Teradyne, Inc. (NASDAQ:TER)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Teradyne, Inc. (NASDAQ:TER - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 14,190 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,787,000.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Teradyne by 59.9% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,928,143 shares of the company's stock valued at $620,552,000 after purchasing an additional 1,846,079 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Teradyne in the 4th quarter valued at about $12,118,000. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Teradyne by 16.2% in the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 30,269 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,811,000 after buying an additional 4,212 shares during the period. Boston Trust Walden Corp boosted its stake in shares of Teradyne by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 408,177 shares of the company's stock worth $51,398,000 after buying an additional 13,020 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New Mexico Educational Retirement Board boosted its stake in shares of Teradyne by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 7,800 shares of the company's stock worth $982,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.77% of the company's stock.

Teradyne Trading Up 0.9%

TER traded up $0.73 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $80.98. 1,803,105 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,595,244. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $77.45 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $102.59. Teradyne, Inc. has a 52-week low of $65.77 and a 52-week high of $163.21. The company has a market capitalization of $12.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.32, a PEG ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.70.

Teradyne (NASDAQ:TER - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The company reported $0.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.14. Teradyne had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 19.08%. The firm had revenue of $685.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $680.54 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.51 EPS. Teradyne's quarterly revenue was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Teradyne, Inc. will post 3.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Teradyne declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Monday, April 28th that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to purchase up to 8.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Teradyne Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 22nd will be given a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 22nd. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.59%. Teradyne's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.56%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

TER has been the subject of several recent research reports. Northland Securities reduced their price target on Teradyne from $154.00 to $140.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. TD Cowen cut their target price on shares of Teradyne from $135.00 to $110.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Teradyne from $130.00 to $100.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Teradyne from $81.00 to $69.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, UBS Group set a $130.00 price objective on shares of Teradyne and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Teradyne currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $114.67.

Teradyne 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.