Nicholas Investment Partners LP Acquires New Position in Cohu, Inc. $COHU

Nicholas Investment Partners LP bought a new position in Cohu, Inc. (NASDAQ:COHU) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 108,413 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,013,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of COHU. Hollencrest Capital Management acquired a new position in Cohu during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cohu by 45.0% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,456 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 452 shares during the period. Kestra Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cohu during the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Cohu during the fourth quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Cohu by 202.7% in the 2nd quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,113 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 1,415 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.67% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird began coverage on Cohu in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $65.00 target price for the company. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on Cohu from $54.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Craig Hallum restated a “buy” rating and issued a $74.00 price objective on shares of Cohu in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $53.00 target price on shares of Cohu in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Cohu from $50.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $68.75.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Nina Richardson sold 3,055 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.54, for a total value of $157,454.70. Following the sale, the director owned 39,093 shares in the company, valued at $2,014,853.22. This represents a 7.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Christopher Bohrson sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.82, for a total value of $558,200.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly 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 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 a total of 30,307 shares of company stock valued at $1,630,573 in the last quarter. 3.05% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Cohu Trading Down 5.6%

NASDAQ COHU opened at $51.30 on Tuesday. Cohu, Inc. has a 1 year low of $18.67 and a 1 year high of $74.60. 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 has a market capitalization of $2.43 billion, a PE ratio of -61.81 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a fifty day moving average of $56.56 and a 200 day moving average of $45.41.

Cohu (NASDAQ:COHU) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The semiconductor company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $149.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter was up 38.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.02 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Cohu, Inc. will post 0.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Cohu Company 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.