Onto Innovation (NYSE:ONTO) Cut to “Sell” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Onto Innovation (NYSE:ONTO) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report issued on Tuesday.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on ONTO. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on Onto Innovation from $265.00 to $245.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $250.00 price target on shares of Onto Innovation in a report on Friday, February 7th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on Onto Innovation from $270.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 price target on shares of Onto Innovation in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 target price on shares of Onto Innovation in a research note on Friday, February 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Onto Innovation currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $251.25.

Onto Innovation Price Performance

NYSE ONTO opened at $173.80 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $8.58 billion, a PE ratio of 42.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.31. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $186.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $189.75. Onto Innovation has a 1-year low of $145.15 and a 1-year high of $238.93.

Onto Innovation (NYSE:ONTO) last released its earnings results 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 14.41% and a net margin of 20.43%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Onto Innovation will post 6.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Onto Innovation

In other Onto Innovation news, SVP Srinivas Vedula sold 827 shares of Onto Innovation stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $205.00, for a total transaction of $169,535.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 15,223 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,120,715. The trade was a 5.15 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Michael P. Plisinski sold 35,000 shares of Onto Innovation stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $219.19, for a total value of $7,671,650.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 150,492 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,986,341.48. This trade represents a 18.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 85,827 shares of company stock worth $18,182,185. Company insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Onto Innovation

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cerity Partners LLC increased its position in Onto Innovation by 287.0% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 4,663 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $968,000 after acquiring an additional 3,458 shares during the period. 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 during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Onto Innovation by 12.9% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,008,399 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $416,863,000 after acquiring an additional 228,800 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Onto Innovation in the 3rd quarter valued at about $14,539,000. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC increased its position in Onto Innovation by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 253,600 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $52,637,000 after acquiring an additional 8,456 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.35% of the company’s stock.

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.