Cohu’s (COHU) Buy Rating Reiterated at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reiterated their buy rating on shares of Cohu (NASDAQ:COHU) in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $65.00 target price on the semiconductor company’s stock.

COHU has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Cohu from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Cohu in a research note on Thursday, October 15th. Wall Street Zen raised Cohu from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 7th. Zacks Research downgraded Cohu from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 28th. Finally, Craig Hallum reissued a “buy” rating and set a $74.00 price objective on shares of Cohu in a research report on Friday, July 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $72.50.

Cohu Trading Down 3.1%

COHU stock traded down $1.41 during trading on Thursday, reaching $43.59. The company had a trading volume of 814,616 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,420,249. Cohu has a 52 week low of $21.10 and a 52 week high of $75.72. The company has a market cap of $2.06 billion, a P/E ratio of -83.83 and a beta of 1.60. The business has a 50 day moving average of $55.94 and a 200 day moving average of $47.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 5.16 and a quick ratio of 4.24.

Cohu (NASDAQ:COHU) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 28th. The semiconductor company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.08. Cohu had a positive return on equity of 1.47% and a negative net margin of 3.97%. The business had revenue of $172.96 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $170.25 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.06) EPS. The business’s revenue was up 37.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Cohu will post 0.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Luis A. Muller sold 21,662 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.00, for a total value of $1,581,326.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 822,927 shares in the company, valued at $60,073,671. This represents a 2.56% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 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. Also, insider Christopher Bohrson sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.31, for a total value of $55,310.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 157,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,722,497.62. This trade represents a 0.63% 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. Over the last three months, insiders sold 116,692 shares of company stock worth $7,374,716. Insiders own 3.05% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cohu

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in shares of Cohu during the 2nd quarter valued at about $17,744,000. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in shares of Cohu during the second quarter valued at approximately $7,802,000. Paradigm Capital Management Inc. NY purchased a new position in shares of Cohu during the second quarter valued at approximately $42,794,000. Engineers Gate Manager LP bought a new position in Cohu during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,839,000. Finally, Nicholas Investment Partners LP bought a new position in Cohu during the second quarter valued at approximately $8,013,000. 94.67% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cohu Company Profile

Cohu, Inc. designs and manufactures equipment and components used to test, inspect, and handle semiconductors. Its products include semiconductor test handlers, inspection systems, test contactors, and thermal subsystems that support testing at various stages of chip production. The company serves semiconductor manufacturers and outsourced semiconductor assembly and test providers around the world. Its equipment is used across a range of semiconductor applications, including devices for automotive, industrial, communications, and consumer markets.