Merit Financial Group LLC Takes Position in Teradyne, Inc. (NASDAQ:TER)

Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Teradyne, Inc. (NASDAQ:TER) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 15,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,312,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of TER. Roberts Glore & Co. Inc. IL grew its position in Teradyne by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Roberts Glore & Co. Inc. IL now owns 4,103 shares of the company’s stock worth $517,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd grew its position in Teradyne by 12.3% in the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 901 shares of the company’s stock worth $113,000 after buying an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Snowden Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in Teradyne by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Snowden Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,748 shares of the company’s stock worth $472,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its position in Teradyne by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 3,127 shares of the company’s stock worth $429,000 after buying an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI grew its position in Teradyne by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 2,244 shares of the company’s stock worth $283,000 after buying an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. 99.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their price target on shares of Teradyne from $150.00 to $110.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Teradyne from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Teradyne from $125.00 to $110.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Vertical Research assumed coverage on shares of Teradyne in a research report on Friday, March 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $135.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Teradyne from $81.00 to $69.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Teradyne presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $114.67.

Teradyne Stock Performance

Teradyne stock opened at $85.23 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $76.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $101.60. Teradyne, Inc. has a 52 week low of $65.77 and a 52 week high of $163.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.59, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.69.

Teradyne (NASDAQ:TER) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The company reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $685.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $680.54 million. Teradyne had a net margin of 19.23% and a return on equity of 19.08%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.51 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Teradyne, Inc. will post 3.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Teradyne Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 22nd will be paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 22nd. Teradyne’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.56%.

Teradyne announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Monday, April 28th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 8.1% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Teradyne 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.