Legal & General Group Plc Makes New $7.80 Million Investment in Cohu, Inc. $COHU

Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in shares of Cohu, Inc. (NASDAQ:COHU) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 105,523 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,802,000. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.22% of Cohu as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Cohu in the second quarter valued at about $545,932,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Cohu by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,361,164 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $101,484,000 after acquiring an additional 57,618 shares in the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP grew its holdings in Cohu by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 1,918,424 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $44,642,000 after acquiring an additional 7,927 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in Cohu by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,819,530 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $42,340,000 after purchasing an additional 5,439 shares during the period. Finally, SG Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Cohu during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,174,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.67% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on COHU shares. Robert W. Baird initiated coverage on Cohu in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $65.00 target price on the stock. B. Riley Financial upped their price objective on Cohu from $65.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Craig Hallum reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $74.00 price objective on shares of Cohu in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Cohu in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Cohu from $50.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $68.75.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Andrew M. Caggia sold 15,252 shares of Cohu stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.74, for a total transaction of $789,138.48. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 64,778 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,351,613.72. The trade was a 19.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Christopher Bohrson sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.82, for a total value of $558,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 159,702 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,914,565.64. This represents a 5.89% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold 30,307 shares of company stock valued at $1,630,573 over the last quarter. 3.05% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Cohu Price Performance

Shares of COHU opened at $44.16 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 5.74 and a quick ratio of 4.72. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $54.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $46.15. Cohu, Inc. has a 1-year low of $18.67 and a 1-year high of $74.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.09 billion, a PE ratio of -53.20 and a beta of 1.59.

Cohu (NASDAQ:COHU) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The semiconductor company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $149.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $144.20 million. Cohu had a negative return on equity of 1.96% and a negative net margin of 7.43%.The firm’s revenue was up 38.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.02 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Cohu, Inc. will post 0.47 EPS for the current year.

Cohu Profile

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.