Onto Innovation (NYSE:ONTO) Trading Up 6.9% – Time to Buy?

Onto Innovation Inc. (NYSE:ONTO)’s stock price was up 6.9% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $132.23 and last traded at $133.15. Approximately 167,146 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 84% from the average daily volume of 1,030,859 shares. The stock had previously closed at $124.57.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on ONTO shares. 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. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on Onto Innovation from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Onto Innovation in a research note on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com upgraded Onto Innovation from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Onto Innovation from $270.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Onto Innovation presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $246.88.

Onto Innovation Stock Up 0.4 %

The stock has a 50 day moving average of $178.22 and a 200 day moving average of $183.67. The firm has a market cap of $6.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.12, a P/E/G ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.29.

Onto Innovation (NYSE:ONTO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The semiconductor company reported $1.51 earnings per share 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%. As a group, analysts predict that Onto Innovation Inc. will post 6.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Michael P. Plisinski sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.19, for a total value of $4,003,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 215,492 shares in the company, valued at $43,139,343.48. The trade was a 8.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $169,535.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 15,223 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,120,715. The trade was a 5.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 85,827 shares of company stock valued at $18,182,185 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Onto Innovation

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Onto Innovation during the 4th quarter worth approximately $87,987,000. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership increased its position 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 in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in Onto Innovation by 72.2% during 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 during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Onto Innovation by 33.9% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,406,034 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $234,344,000 after acquiring an additional 356,161 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Citigroup Inc. grew its stake in Onto Innovation by 811.7% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 319,116 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $66,236,000 after acquiring an additional 284,115 shares during the period. 98.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.