Legato Capital Management LLC Decreases Stock Position in Cohu, Inc. $COHU

Key Points

• Legato Capital Management reduced its Cohu stake by 21% in the fourth quarter, selling 28,355 shares and ending with 106,415 shares worth about $2.48 million.
• Insiders have also been selling: Director Steven J. Bilodeau and Director William Bendush both trimmed holdings, and insiders sold a total of 22,257 shares over the last 90 days.
• Analysts remain generally positive on Cohu, with a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $49, even after the company missed quarterly EPS estimates while posting 29.3% year-over-year revenue growth.

Legato Capital Management LLC cut its holdings in Cohu, Inc. (NASDAQ:COHU - Free Report) by 21.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 106,415 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after selling 28,355 shares during the quarter. Legato Capital Management LLC owned about 0.23% of Cohu worth $2,476,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in Cohu by 45.0% in the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,456 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 452 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Cohu by 45.4% in the third quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,564 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 488 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its stake in shares of Cohu by 83.7% in the third quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,569 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 715 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Cohu by 202.7% in the second quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,113 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 1,415 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Cohu by 1,254.4% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 2,465 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 2,283 shares during the last quarter. 94.67% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on COHU. B. Riley Financial restated a "buy" rating on shares of Cohu in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Evercore restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $53.00 price objective on shares of Cohu in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Cohu in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on Cohu from $33.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Cohu from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cohu presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $49.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Steven J. Bilodeau sold 10,257 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.85, for a total transaction of $460,026.45. Following the sale, the director directly owned 52,272 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,344,399.20. This trade represents a 16.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director William Bendush sold 7,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.14, for a total value of $368,550.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 24,780 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,217,689.20. This trade represents a 23.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 22,257 shares of company stock valued at $1,018,986 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 3.05% of the company's stock.

Cohu Stock Up 1.9%

Cohu stock opened at $46.53 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -39.10 and a beta of 1.61. Cohu, Inc. has a 52 week low of $16.46 and a 52 week high of $52.43. The business's 50-day moving average price is $39.09 and its 200 day moving average price is $30.94. The company has a quick ratio of 5.31, a current ratio of 6.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

Cohu (NASDAQ:COHU - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The semiconductor company reported $0.01 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.03 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $125.12 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $122.14 million. Cohu had a negative return on equity of 3.50% and a negative net margin of 11.54%.The firm's revenue was up 29.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.02) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cohu, Inc. will post 0.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Cohu Company Profile

Cohu, Inc is a global provider of semiconductor test and inspection solutions, offering a broad portfolio of products designed to support chip manufacturers, outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) providers, and electronics original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). The company's product lineup includes automatic test handlers, wafer probers, test sockets, thermal subassembly systems and burn-in boards, all engineered to optimize throughput, accuracy and reliability in semiconductor production and final test.

Founded in 1947 and headquartered in Poway, California, Cohu has grown through both organic development and targeted acquisitions to become a recognized leader in test handling and interconnect technologies.

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