Jefferies Financial Group Has Lowered Expectations for Onto Innovation (NYSE:ONTO) Stock Price

Onto Innovation (NYSE:ONTO) had its target price cut by investment analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from $245.00 to $175.00 in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the semiconductor company’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price objective points to a potential upside of 43.46% from the company’s previous close.

ONTO has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 price objective on shares of Onto Innovation in a research note on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com raised shares of Onto Innovation from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Oppenheimer dropped their target price on shares of Onto Innovation from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 target price on shares of Onto Innovation in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Onto Innovation in a report on Friday, February 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $231.88.

Onto Innovation Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ONTO opened at $121.99 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $164.57 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $178.80. Onto Innovation has a fifty-two week low of $120.68 and a fifty-two week high of $238.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.29.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Srinivas Vedula sold 827 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $205.00, for a total transaction 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 approximately $3,120,715. This trade represents a 5.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Michael P. Plisinski sold 20,000 shares of Onto Innovation 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 215,492 shares in the company, valued at $43,139,343.48. This trade represents a 8.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 85,827 shares of company stock valued at $18,182,185. 0.72% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ONTO. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. raised its stake in Onto Innovation by 20.3% in the fourth quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. now owns 46,200 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $7,700,000 after buying an additional 7,800 shares during the period. GTS Securities LLC raised its position in shares of Onto Innovation by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. GTS Securities LLC now owns 6,806 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,134,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares during the period. Palisades Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Onto Innovation by 9.5% during the 4th quarter. Palisades Investment Partners LLC now owns 20,412 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $3,402,000 after buying an additional 1,771 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Onto Innovation by 11.9% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 150,084 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $25,015,000 after buying an additional 15,961 shares during the period. Finally, Voloridge Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Onto Innovation during the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,104,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.35% of the company’s stock.

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.