Cohu, Inc. (NASDAQ:COHU) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Cohu, Inc. (NASDAQ:COHU) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nine research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $63.8571.

COHU has been the subject of several research reports. Robert W. Baird began coverage on Cohu in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $65.00 price target for the company. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Cohu from $50.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Cohu from $60.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 16th. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $53.00 price target on shares of Cohu in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, B. Riley Financial raised their price objective on shares of Cohu from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd.

Cohu Stock Up 14.3%

NASDAQ:COHU traded up $5.61 on Thursday, hitting $44.95. 266,547 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,126,079. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $56.66 and a 200-day moving average price of $42.25. Cohu has a 52 week low of $17.80 and a 52 week high of $74.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 6.43 and a quick ratio of 5.31. The company has a market cap of $2.12 billion, a P/E ratio of -37.57 and a beta of 1.55.

Cohu (NASDAQ:COHU) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The semiconductor company reported $0.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.03 by ($0.02). Cohu had a negative return on equity of 3.50% and a negative net margin of 11.54%.The company had revenue of $125.12 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $122.14 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.02) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 29.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Cohu will post 0.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Luis A. Muller sold 45,154 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.62, for a total value of $2,105,079.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 927,619 shares in the company, valued at $43,245,597.78. The trade was a 4.64% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, SVP Christopher Bohrson sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.88, for a total value of $63,880.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 171,702 shares in the company, valued at $10,968,323.76. The trade was a 0.58% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold a total of 89,668 shares of company stock worth $4,210,016 over the last three months. 3.05% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cohu

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of COHU. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Cohu by 27.8% during the 4th quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. now owns 195,536 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $4,550,000 after acquiring an additional 42,593 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Cohu during the first quarter worth $705,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Cohu by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,361,164 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $101,484,000 after acquiring an additional 57,618 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Cohu by 349.3% during the 4th quarter. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC now owns 302,838 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $7,047,000 after acquiring an additional 235,438 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Leeward Investments LLC MA increased its holdings in Cohu by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. Leeward Investments LLC MA now owns 646,133 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $19,785,000 after purchasing an additional 24,755 shares in the last quarter. 94.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Cohu

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.