Zweig DiMenna Associates LLC Boosts Stock Position in Teradyne, Inc. (NASDAQ:TER)

Zweig DiMenna Associates LLC grew its holdings in Teradyne, Inc. (NASDAQ:TER) by 28.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 190,158 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 42,500 shares during the quarter. Teradyne accounts for 1.8% of Zweig DiMenna Associates LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 12th largest holding. Zweig DiMenna Associates LLC’s holdings in Teradyne were worth $23,945,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in TER. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in Teradyne by 1,767.0% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 923,068 shares of the company’s stock worth $116,233,000 after buying an additional 873,626 shares during the last quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Teradyne by 189.6% during the third quarter. Alkeon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,144,017 shares of the company’s stock worth $153,218,000 after buying an additional 749,003 shares during the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP acquired a new position in Teradyne during the third quarter worth $91,129,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its stake in Teradyne by 18.2% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,432,722 shares of the company’s stock worth $325,814,000 after buying an additional 374,522 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its stake in Teradyne by 5.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,880,148 shares of the company’s stock worth $921,458,000 after buying an additional 350,002 shares during the last quarter. 99.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Teradyne Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ TER opened at $131.54 on Friday. Teradyne, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $92.29 and a fifty-two week high of $163.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.42 billion, a PE ratio of 41.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.46. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $123.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $126.81.

Teradyne (NASDAQ:TER) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $737.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $716.40 million. Teradyne had a return on equity of 18.56% and a net margin of 18.75%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.80 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Teradyne, Inc. will post 3.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Teradyne announced that its board has authorized a share 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 repurchase up to 0.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Teradyne Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Gregory Stephen Smith sold 3,080 shares of Teradyne stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.00, for a total value of $400,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 74,660 shares in the company, valued at $9,705,800. The trade was a 3.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on TER shares. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Teradyne from $140.00 to $133.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Craig Hallum reduced their target price on Teradyne from $124.00 to $111.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Northland Securities upgraded Teradyne from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $117.00 to $154.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on Teradyne from $145.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded Teradyne from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $121.00 to $117.00 in a report on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $149.31.

Teradyne Company 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.