Onto Innovation (NYSE:ONTO) Sets New 12-Month Low Following Analyst Downgrade

Onto Innovation Inc. (NYSE:ONTO)’s share price hit a new 52-week low during mid-day 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.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 target price on shares of Onto Innovation in a report on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com upgraded Onto Innovation from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 target price on shares of Onto Innovation in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Onto Innovation from $270.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Onto Innovation in a research report on Friday, February 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $231.88.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 transaction of $169,535.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Michael P. Plisinski sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $211.24, for a total value of $6,337,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 185,492 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,183,330.08. This represents a 13.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 85,827 shares of company stock worth $18,182,185 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ONTO. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its position in shares of Onto Innovation by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 16,083 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,680,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its stake in Onto Innovation by 287.0% in the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 4,663 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $968,000 after purchasing an additional 3,458 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Onto Innovation by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 834,345 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $173,401,000 after acquiring an additional 13,405 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Onto Innovation by 12.9% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,008,399 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $416,863,000 after acquiring an additional 228,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Onto Innovation by 72.0% during the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 10,184 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,095,000 after buying an additional 4,263 shares during the period. 98.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Onto Innovation Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $6.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $164.57 and a 200-day moving average price of $178.83.

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, topping 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%. Equities analysts predict that Onto Innovation Inc. will post 6.26 EPS for the current 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.