Teradyne, Inc. (NASDAQ:TER) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Teradyne, Inc. (NASDAQ:TER - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,780,000 shares, an increase of 43.0% from the March 31st total of 4,740,000 shares. Approximately 4.3% of the company's shares are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 3,570,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.9 days.

Teradyne Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:TER traded down $0.44 on Monday, hitting $75.44. 2,484,341 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,572,125. Teradyne has a one year low of $65.77 and a one year high of $163.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.65, a PEG ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.70. The company's 50 day moving average price is $84.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $106.87.

Teradyne (NASDAQ:TER - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The company reported $0.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $685.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $680.54 million. Teradyne had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 19.08%. The company's revenue was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.51 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Teradyne will post 3.88 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Insider Transactions at Teradyne

In other Teradyne news, CFO Sanjay Mehta sold 1,384 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.49, for a total value of $154,302.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 36,576 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,077,858.24. This represents a 3.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Richard John Burns sold 445 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.49, for a total value of $49,613.05. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 25,191 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,808,544.59. This trade represents a 1.74 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,045 shares of company stock valued at $227,997. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Teradyne

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in TER. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Teradyne by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,405,899 shares of the company's stock worth $2,569,511,000 after acquiring an additional 92,428 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its position in shares of Teradyne by 59.9% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,928,143 shares of the company's stock valued at $620,552,000 after acquiring an additional 1,846,079 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of Teradyne by 28.3% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 4,828,689 shares of the company's stock valued at $608,025,000 after buying an additional 1,065,474 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Teradyne by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,105,505 shares of the company's stock worth $515,665,000 after purchasing an additional 94,374 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aspex Management HK Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Teradyne by 35.5% during the fourth quarter. Aspex Management HK Ltd now owns 3,234,842 shares of the company's stock valued at $407,331,000 after buying an additional 847,409 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.77% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on TER shares. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Teradyne from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an "underperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price objective on Teradyne from $150.00 to $110.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on Teradyne from $135.00 to $110.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Susquehanna dropped their target price on shares of Teradyne from $155.00 to $133.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Vertical Research began coverage on shares of Teradyne in a research report on Friday, March 7th. They set a "buy" rating and a $135.00 price target for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $117.56.

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.