Onto Innovation Inc. (NYSE:ONTO) Short Interest Update

Onto Innovation Inc. (NYSE:ONTO) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 1,510,000 shares, an increase of 23.8% from the February 13th total of 1,220,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 933,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.6 days. Approximately 3.1% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ONTO has been the subject of a number of research reports. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on Onto Innovation from $270.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on Onto Innovation from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 price target on shares of Onto Innovation in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Onto Innovation in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 target price on shares of Onto Innovation in a research report on Friday, February 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Onto Innovation presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $246.88.

Insider Transactions at Onto Innovation

In other Onto Innovation news, CEO Michael P. Plisinski sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 approximately $43,139,343.48. This represents a 8.49 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Srinivas Vedula sold 827 shares of Onto Innovation stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $205.00, for a total transaction of $169,535.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 15,223 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,120,715. This trade represents a 5.15 % decrease in their position. 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 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Onto Innovation

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Onto Innovation during the 4th quarter worth about $87,987,000. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in shares of Onto Innovation by 41.6% during the fourth quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 1,515,152 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $252,530,000 after buying an additional 444,860 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of Onto Innovation by 72.2% during the fourth 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 last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Onto Innovation by 33.9% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,406,034 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $234,344,000 after acquiring an additional 356,161 shares during the period. Finally, Citigroup Inc. grew its stake in shares of Onto Innovation by 811.7% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 319,116 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $66,236,000 after acquiring an additional 284,115 shares during the last quarter. 98.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Onto Innovation Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of Onto Innovation stock opened at $137.45 on Thursday. Onto Innovation has a 12-month low of $121.47 and a 12-month high of $238.93. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $174.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $181.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.85, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.29.

Onto Innovation (NYSE:ONTO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The semiconductor company reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.10. Onto Innovation had a net margin of 20.43% and a return on equity of 14.24%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Onto Innovation will post 6.26 earnings per share for the current year.

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.