Onto Innovation (NYSE:ONTO) Shares Gap Down After Analyst Downgrade

Onto Innovation Inc. (NYSE:ONTO)’s stock price gapped down before the market opened on Friday after Needham & Company LLC lowered their price target on the stock from $245.00 to $230.00. The stock had previously closed at $198.33, but opened at $187.53. Needham & Company LLC currently has a buy rating on the stock. Onto Innovation shares last traded at $183.82, with a volume of 169,442 shares traded.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on ONTO. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Onto Innovation from $240.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 15th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 price target on shares of Onto Innovation in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Onto Innovation from $260.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Onto Innovation currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $257.14.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Srinivas Vedula sold 1,275 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $207.24, for a total transaction of $264,231.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 16,050 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,326,202. This represents a 0.00 % 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 link. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Onto Innovation

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ONTO. TFB Advisors LLC increased its position in Onto Innovation by 6.4% in the third quarter. TFB Advisors LLC now owns 2,290 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $475,000 after buying an additional 138 shares during the last quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Onto Innovation by 49.1% during the 3rd quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,557 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $323,000 after acquiring an additional 513 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Onto Innovation in the 3rd quarter worth about $176,000. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in Onto Innovation by 28.5% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 586 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $118,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Finally, VELA Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Onto Innovation by 85.9% in the 3rd quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC now owns 3,128 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $649,000 after acquiring an additional 1,445 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.35% of the company’s stock.

Onto Innovation Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $9.04 billion, a PE ratio of 54.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.36. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $203.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $206.62.

Onto Innovation (NYSE:ONTO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The semiconductor company reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.31 by $0.03. Onto Innovation had a net margin of 18.50% and a return on equity of 12.71%. The company had revenue of $252.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $250.85 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.96 EPS. Onto Innovation’s revenue was up 21.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Onto Innovation Inc. will post 5.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Onto Innovation Company Profile

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.