Teradyne Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:TER)

Teradyne, Inc. (NASDAQ:TER) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders purchased 7,410 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 130% compared to the average volume of 3,228 put options.

Teradyne Stock Performance

NASDAQ:TER traded up $2.76 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $109.99. 900,771 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,644,728. The company has a market cap of $17.79 billion, a PE ratio of 33.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.45. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $122.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $122.26. Teradyne has a 1 year low of $95.80 and a 1 year high of $163.21.

Teradyne (NASDAQ:TER) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The company reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.04. Teradyne had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 19.08%. On average, research analysts expect that Teradyne will post 3.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Teradyne Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. Teradyne’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.41%.

Teradyne announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Monday, November 11th that permits the company to buyback $100.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to purchase up to 0.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Teradyne

In other Teradyne news, CEO Gregory Stephen Smith sold 3,080 shares of Teradyne stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.00, for a total transaction of $400,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 74,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,705,800. The trade was a 3.96 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Sanjay Mehta sold 1,384 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.49, for a total transaction of $154,302.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 8,479 shares of company stock worth $1,013,134. 0.36% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Teradyne

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH grew its holdings in Teradyne by 158.3% in the 4th quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH now owns 4,463 shares of the company’s stock valued at $562,000 after buying an additional 2,735 shares during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in Teradyne during the fourth quarter worth approximately $9,921,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Teradyne in the 4th quarter valued at $1,787,000. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. grew its stake in shares of Teradyne by 63.2% during the 4th quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. now owns 169,900 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,394,000 after buying an additional 65,800 shares during the period. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of Teradyne by 82.2% during the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 28,691 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,613,000 after buying an additional 12,946 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

TER has been the topic of several research reports. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Teradyne from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $121.00 to $117.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Teradyne from $160.00 to $155.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Northland Securities dropped their target price on Teradyne from $154.00 to $140.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $160.00 price objective on shares of Teradyne in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Teradyne from $158.00 to $145.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $143.77.

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.