Onto Innovation (NYSE:ONTO) Trading 6.9% Higher – Still a Buy?

Onto Innovation Inc. (NYSE:ONTO)’s share price rose 6.9% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $132.23 and last traded at $133.15. Approximately 167,146 shares changed hands 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.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on ONTO. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 price target on shares of Onto Innovation in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Onto Innovation in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 target price on shares of Onto Innovation in a report on Friday, February 7th. Oppenheimer decreased 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. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Onto Innovation from $270.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $246.88.

Onto Innovation Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $6.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.29. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $179.62 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $184.37.

Onto Innovation (NYSE:ONTO) last announced 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Onto Innovation Inc. will post 6.26 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Onto Innovation

In other news, CEO Michael P. Plisinski sold 35,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $219.19, for a total transaction of $7,671,650.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 150,492 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,986,341.48. This represents a 18.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Srinivas Vedula sold 827 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 15,223 shares in the company, valued at $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 worth $18,182,185 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Onto Innovation

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of ONTO. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Onto Innovation by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,166,137 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $861,040,000 after purchasing an additional 76,233 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Onto Innovation by 9.2% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,192,238 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $365,380,000 after buying an additional 183,839 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in Onto Innovation by 21.2% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,553,271 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $258,883,000 after acquiring an additional 271,470 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership raised its stake in Onto Innovation by 41.6% during 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 acquiring an additional 444,860 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp raised its stake in Onto Innovation by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,469,969 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $305,107,000 after acquiring an additional 39,367 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.35% of the company’s stock.

Onto Innovation Company Profile

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.