Perpetual Ltd Makes New Investment in Onto Innovation Inc. (NYSE:ONTO)

Perpetual Ltd bought a new stake in Onto Innovation Inc. (NYSE:ONTO) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 1,394 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $232,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in Onto Innovation by 22.8% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 398 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $66,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Onto Innovation in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $217,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Onto Innovation by 22.1% in the 4th quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,051 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,175,000 after purchasing an additional 1,276 shares in the last quarter. Argent Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Onto Innovation in the 4th quarter worth approximately $437,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in Onto Innovation by 8.7% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 159,346 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $26,558,000 after purchasing an additional 12,798 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.35% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on ONTO. Cantor Fitzgerald began coverage on Onto Innovation in a research report on Monday, January 13th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $250.00 price objective on the stock. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 price objective on shares of Onto Innovation in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Onto Innovation from $265.00 to $245.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Needham & Company LLC reduced their target price on Onto Innovation from $245.00 to $230.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $275.00 target price on shares of Onto Innovation in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Onto Innovation presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $253.75.

Onto Innovation Stock Performance

NYSE ONTO opened at $216.47 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $176.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $191.81. Onto Innovation Inc. has a one year low of $145.15 and a one year high of $238.93. The company has a market cap of $10.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.29.

Onto Innovation (NYSE:ONTO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The semiconductor company reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.31 by $0.03. Onto Innovation had a return on equity of 13.38% and a net margin of 19.44%. The firm had revenue of $252.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $250.85 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.96 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 21.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Onto Innovation Inc. will post 5.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Onto Innovation

In other news, CEO Michael P. Plisinski sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $200.19, for a total transaction of $4,003,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 215,492 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,139,343.48. This represents a 8.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Srinivas Vedula sold 827 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $205.00, for a total value of $169,535.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 15,223 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,120,715. This represents 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 worth $18,182,185 in the last three months. 0.72% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.