Onto Innovation (NYSE:ONTO) Sets New 52-Week Low After Analyst Downgrade

Shares of Onto Innovation Inc. (NYSE:ONTO) reached a new 52-week low during trading on Friday after Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on the stock from $245.00 to $175.00. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Onto Innovation traded as low as $120.68 and last traded at $122.08, with a volume of 249288 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $128.42.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Onto Innovation in a report on Friday, February 7th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Onto Innovation from $270.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 price target on shares of Onto Innovation in a research note on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Onto Innovation from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered their target price on shares of Onto Innovation from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $231.88.

Insider Activity

In other Onto Innovation news, SVP Srinivas Vedula sold 827 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $205.00, for a total value of $169,535.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 15,223 shares in the company, valued at $3,120,715. This trade represents a 5.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Michael P. Plisinski sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.19, for a total transaction of $4,003,800.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 215,492 shares in the company, valued at $43,139,343.48. This represents a 8.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 85,827 shares of company stock worth $18,182,185 over the last 90 days. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Onto Innovation

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Onto Innovation in the 4th quarter valued at about $87,987,000. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership increased its stake in Onto Innovation by 41.6% in the 4th quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 1,515,152 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $252,530,000 after buying an additional 444,860 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in Onto Innovation by 72.2% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 870,250 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $145,045,000 after buying an additional 364,853 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Onto Innovation by 33.9% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,406,034 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $234,344,000 after buying an additional 356,161 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Onto Innovation by 21.2% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,553,271 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $258,883,000 after acquiring an additional 271,470 shares in the last quarter. 98.35% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Onto Innovation Stock Down 5.0 %

The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $164.57 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $178.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.05, a P/E/G ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.29.

Onto Innovation (NYSE:ONTO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The semiconductor company reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.10. Onto Innovation had a return on equity of 14.24% and a net margin of 20.43%. On average, equities analysts expect that Onto Innovation Inc. will post 6.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Onto Innovation

Onto Innovation Inc engages in the design, development, manufacture, and support of process control tools that performs optical metrology. The company offers lithography systems and process control analytical software. It also offers process and yield management solutions, and device packaging and test facilities through standalone systems for optical metrology, macro-defect inspection, packaging lithography, and transparent and opaque thin film measurements.