Teradyne (NASDAQ:TER) Rating Lowered to Underweight at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Teradyne (NASDAQ:TER) from an equal weight rating to an underweight rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have $117.00 price target on the stock, down from their previous price target of $121.00.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on TER. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Teradyne from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $145.00 to $158.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Craig Hallum cut their price target on Teradyne from $124.00 to $111.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Northland Securities raised shares of Teradyne from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $117.00 to $154.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Teradyne from $140.00 to $133.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Teradyne from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, October 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $149.31.

Teradyne Stock Down 2.2 %

Shares of TER stock opened at $131.83 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $21.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.85, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.46. Teradyne has a 12-month low of $92.29 and a 12-month high of $163.21. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $123.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $126.81.

Teradyne (NASDAQ:TER) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $737.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $716.40 million. Teradyne had a net margin of 18.75% and a return on equity of 18.56%. Teradyne’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.80 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Teradyne will post 3.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Teradyne Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 18th. Investors of record on Monday, November 25th were issued a $0.12 dividend. 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%.

Teradyne declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Monday, November 11th that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 0.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Gregory Stephen Smith sold 3,080 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.00, for a total transaction of $400,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 74,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,705,800. This trade represents a 3.96 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.36% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in shares of Teradyne during the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Quarry LP increased its stake in Teradyne by 256.1% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 235 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 169 shares in the last quarter. Coastline Trust Co acquired a new stake in Teradyne during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $46,000. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in Teradyne in the third quarter valued at approximately $52,000. Finally, Eastern Bank acquired a new position in shares of Teradyne in the third quarter valued at approximately $67,000. 99.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.