Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. Decreases Stock Holdings in FARO Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:FARO)

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lowered its position in FARO Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:FARO) by 50.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 61,085 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 61,989 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. owned approximately 0.32% of FARO Technologies worth $1,622,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Harvey Partners LLC grew its holdings in FARO Technologies by 17.8% in the third quarter. Harvey Partners LLC now owns 1,006,000 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $19,255,000 after purchasing an additional 152,000 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its stake in FARO Technologies by 41.4% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 61,125 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $1,171,000 after buying an additional 17,892 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in FARO Technologies by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 450,899 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $8,633,000 after buying an additional 19,005 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in FARO Technologies by 13.1% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 8,345 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $212,000 after buying an additional 966 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers raised its stake in FARO Technologies by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 31,279 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $793,000 after buying an additional 1,333 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FARO has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on shares of FARO Technologies from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. StockNews.com cut shares of FARO Technologies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, March 16th. Finally, Craig Hallum lifted their price objective on shares of FARO Technologies from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Matthew Horwath sold 1,480 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.30, for a total transaction of $43,364.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 39,430 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,155,299. This trade represents a 3.62 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Peter James Lau sold 4,617 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.30, for a total transaction of $135,278.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 160,076 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,690,226.80. This represents a 2.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 11,755 shares of company stock valued at $356,020. Company insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

FARO Technologies Trading Up 0.4 %

FARO Technologies stock opened at $27.42 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $29.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $25.47. The company has a market capitalization of $520.49 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -78.34 and a beta of 1.54. FARO Technologies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $13.52 and a 52 week high of $33.13. The company has a quick ratio of 1.83, a current ratio of 2.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

FARO Technologies (NASDAQ:FARO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 24th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.10. FARO Technologies had a negative net margin of 1.87% and a negative return on equity of 2.49%. The business had revenue of $93.54 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $91.40 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.36 EPS.

FARO Technologies Profile

FARO Technologies, Inc designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and supports software driven three-dimensional measurement, imaging, and realization solutions worldwide. The company offers FaroArm, a combination of a portable articulated measurement arm, a computer, and CAM2 software programs; FARO Laser Tracker, a combination of a portable large-volume laser measurement tool, a computer, and CAM2 software programs; FARO Laser Projector, which provides a virtual template that operators and assemblers can use to position components; FARO Laser Scanning Portfolio to measure and collect a cloud of data points for 3D rendering of an object or area; and FARO Mobile Laser Portfolio provides 3D scanning while attached to other mobile devices, such as drones for metrology, reverse engineering, factory automation, building information modeling, public safety, and other applications.