Cohu (NASDAQ:COHU) Stock Rating Upgraded by Wall Street Zen

Cohu (NASDAQ:COHU) was upgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on COHU. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Cohu in a research report on Thursday, October 15th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $65.00 price target on shares of Cohu in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Zacks Research lowered Cohu from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 28th. Craig Hallum restated a “buy” rating and set a $74.00 price target on shares of Cohu in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $83.00 price objective on shares of Cohu in a report on Thursday, October 29th. One investment 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 given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $74.38.

Cohu Stock Performance

Shares of COHU stock opened at $38.49 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -74.02 and a beta of 1.60. Cohu has a 52-week low of $21.10 and a 52-week high of $75.72. The company has a quick ratio of 4.24, a current ratio of 5.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The company’s 50 day moving average is $56.11 and its 200 day moving average is $47.31.

Cohu (NASDAQ:COHU) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The semiconductor company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $172.96 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $170.25 million. Cohu had a positive return on equity of 1.47% and a negative net margin of 3.97%. Cohu’s revenue was up 37.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.06) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cohu will post 0.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Cohu

In other Cohu news, insider Christopher Bohrson sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.31, for a total transaction of $55,310.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 157,702 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,722,497.62. The trade was a 0.63% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 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, CEO Luis A. Muller sold 21,662 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.00, for a total value of $1,581,326.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 822,927 shares in the company, valued at $60,073,671. This represents a 2.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 ninety days, insiders have sold 116,692 shares of company stock valued at $7,374,716. 3.05% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cohu

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Cohu in the 2nd quarter valued at $545,932,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company purchased a new stake in Cohu during the second quarter worth $77,814,000. Emerald Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Cohu during the first quarter worth $23,887,000. Paradigm Capital Management Inc. NY purchased a new stake in Cohu during the second quarter worth $42,794,000. Finally, Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC grew its position in Cohu by 125.5% during the first 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 during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.67% of the company’s stock.

About Cohu

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.