Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of Put Options on Teradyne (NASDAQ:TER)

Teradyne, Inc. (NASDAQ:TER) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders acquired 7,410 put options on the company. This is an increase of 130% compared to the average daily volume of 3,228 put options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on TER. KeyCorp decreased their price target on Teradyne from $180.00 to $150.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Northland Capmk raised shares of Teradyne from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Susquehanna raised their price target on shares of Teradyne from $145.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $160.00 price target on shares of Teradyne in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on Teradyne from $160.00 to $155.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given 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.com, Teradyne presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $143.77.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Sanjay Mehta sold 1,789 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.51, for a total value of $215,592.39. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 33,308 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,013,947.08. The trade was a 5.10 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Gregory Stephen Smith sold 3,080 shares of Teradyne stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.00, for a total transaction of $400,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 74,660 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,705,800. The trade was a 3.96 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 8,479 shares of company stock valued at $1,013,134 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Teradyne

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in Teradyne by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 10,255 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,373,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. Stephens Inc. AR raised its stake in Teradyne by 11.1% in the third quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 3,538 shares of the company’s stock worth $474,000 after buying an additional 353 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Teradyne by 149.0% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,435 shares of the company’s stock worth $326,000 after buying an additional 1,457 shares during the period. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC bought a new stake in Teradyne during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $223,000. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its holdings in shares of Teradyne by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 207,900 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,844,000 after acquiring an additional 4,367 shares during the period. 99.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Teradyne Price Performance

Shares of Teradyne stock opened at $110.21 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.45. Teradyne has a one year low of $95.80 and a one year high of $163.21. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $122.21 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $122.18.

Teradyne (NASDAQ:TER) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that Teradyne will post 3.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Teradyne Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. 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 is presently 14.41%.

Teradyne announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Monday, November 11th that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 0.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.