Cohu (NASDAQ:COHU) Shares Gap Down – Time to Sell?

Cohu, Inc. (NASDAQ:COHU) gapped down prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $55.02, but opened at $52.33. Cohu shares last traded at $53.3450, with a volume of 81,772 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on COHU. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $53.00 price objective on shares of Cohu in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Robert W. Baird started 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. Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on Cohu from $33.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Cohu from $50.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Cohu in a research note on Monday, April 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Cohu presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $59.29.

Cohu Stock Performance

The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $56.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $40.46. The company has a current ratio of 6.43, a quick ratio of 5.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The stock has a market cap of $2.47 billion, a P/E ratio of -44.00 and a beta of 1.55.

Cohu (NASDAQ:COHU) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The semiconductor company reported $0.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.03 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $125.12 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $122.14 million. Cohu had a negative return on equity of 3.50% and a negative net margin of 11.54%.Cohu’s quarterly revenue was up 29.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.02) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Cohu, Inc. will post 0.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cohu news, Director James A. Donahue sold 10,257 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.77, for a total value of $479,719.89. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 3,578 shares in the company, valued at $167,343.06. This represents a 74.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Steven J. Bilodeau sold 10,257 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $44.85, for a total value of $460,026.45. Following the sale, the director directly owned 52,272 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,344,399.20. This represents a 16.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 89,668 shares of company stock valued at $4,210,016. 3.05% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cohu

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in COHU. Hollencrest Capital Management purchased a new position in Cohu in the first quarter valued at about $31,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Cohu by 45.0% during the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,456 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 452 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cohu during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Cohu in the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,000. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Cohu by 202.7% in the second quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,113 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 1,415 shares during the last quarter. 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 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.