Cohu, Inc. (NASDAQ:COHU) Stock Rated “Moderate Buy” by Wall Street Brokerages

Shares of Cohu, Inc. (NASDAQ:COHU) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the ten research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $74.38.

COHU has been the topic of a number of research reports. Robert W. Baird set a $83.00 price objective on Cohu in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of Cohu in a research report on Thursday, October 29th. Craig Hallum reissued a “buy” rating and set a $74.00 price target on shares of Cohu in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Cohu from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Cohu in a research note on Thursday, October 15th.

Cohu Price Performance

NASDAQ:COHU traded up $3.59 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $38.49. The company had a trading volume of 1,444,582 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,265,549. Cohu has a 52-week low of $21.10 and a 52-week high of $75.72. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $56.11 and its 200-day moving average price is $47.31. The company has a market capitalization of $1.82 billion, a PE ratio of -74.02 and a beta of 1.60. The company has a quick ratio of 4.24, a current ratio of 5.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36.

Cohu (NASDAQ:COHU) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The semiconductor company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $170.25 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.06) earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 37.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Cohu will post 0.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Christopher Bohrson sold 10,000 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the senior vice president owned 159,702 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,914,565.64. This trade represents a 5.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CEO Luis A. Muller sold 55,794 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $3,347,640.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 871,825 shares in the company, valued at approximately $52,309,500. This trade represents a 6.01% 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. In the last quarter, insiders sold 116,692 shares of company stock worth $7,374,716. Company insiders own 3.05% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cohu

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Cohu during the 2nd quarter valued at $545,932,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company bought a new stake in shares of Cohu in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $77,814,000. Paradigm Capital Management Inc. NY purchased a new stake in shares of Cohu in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $42,794,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Cohu in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $38,523,000. Finally, Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC increased its position in Cohu by 125.5% during the 1st quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 955,344 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $29,253,000 after buying an additional 531,661 shares in the last quarter. 94.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Cohu Company Profile

Cohu, Inc is a global provider of semiconductor test and inspection equipment and related services. The company supplies solutions used by semiconductor manufacturers and outsourced semiconductor assembly and test providers to evaluate devices during production, helping improve manufacturing quality, reliability and efficiency.

Cohu’s product portfolio includes semiconductor test handlers, contactors and other interface products, inspection and metrology systems, thermal-management equipment, and software for test-data analysis and factory automation.