Short Interest in Onto Innovation Inc. (NYSE:ONTO) Declines By 14.1%

Onto Innovation Inc. (NYSE:ONTO) saw a significant decline in short interest in February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,220,000 shares, a decline of 14.1% from the January 31st total of 1,420,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 859,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.4 days. Approximately 2.5% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Srinivas Vedula sold 827 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 15,223 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,120,715. This represents a 5.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael P. Plisinski sold 35,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $219.19, for a total transaction of $7,671,650.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 150,492 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,986,341.48. The trade was a 18.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 85,827 shares of company stock worth $18,182,185. 0.72% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Onto Innovation

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Onto Innovation during the 4th quarter valued at about $87,987,000. 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 purchasing an additional 444,860 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in 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 valued at $145,045,000 after buying an additional 364,853 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Onto Innovation by 33.9% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,406,034 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $234,344,000 after purchasing an additional 356,161 shares during the period. Finally, Citigroup Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Onto Innovation by 811.7% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. 98.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Onto Innovation Price Performance

ONTO traded down $2.86 during trading on Friday, hitting $131.39. The company had a trading volume of 405,315 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,018,959. Onto Innovation has a 1-year low of $127.54 and a 1-year high of $238.93. The company has a market cap of $6.47 billion, a PE ratio of 32.37, a P/E/G ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.31. The business has a 50-day moving average of $182.10 and a 200-day moving average of $186.53.

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 net margin of 20.43% and a return on equity of 14.24%. Research analysts forecast that Onto Innovation will post 6.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on ONTO shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Onto Innovation from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 target price on shares of Onto Innovation 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 on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 price objective on shares of Onto Innovation in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Onto Innovation in a research note on Friday, February 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Onto Innovation presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $246.88.

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.