Onto Innovation Inc. (NYSE:ONTO) Short Interest Up 23.8% in February

Onto Innovation Inc. (NYSE:ONTO) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 1,510,000 shares, a growth 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 currently 1.6 days. Currently, 3.1% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Insider Activity at Onto Innovation

In related news, CEO Michael P. Plisinski sold 35,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at $32,986,341.48. This represents a 18.87 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 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 transaction of $169,535.00. Following the sale, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 85,827 shares of company stock valued at $18,182,185 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Onto Innovation

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in Onto Innovation by 22.8% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 398 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $66,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. increased its holdings in Onto Innovation by 7.8% during the 3rd quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. now owns 1,050 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $218,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Bridge City Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Onto Innovation by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Bridge City Capital LLC now owns 8,165 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,361,000 after buying an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of Onto Innovation by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 1,533 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $256,000 after buying an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Huntington National Bank grew its holdings in shares of Onto Innovation by 26.3% during the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 423 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $88,000 after buying an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. 98.35% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ONTO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Onto Innovation from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Onto Innovation from $270.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 target price on shares of Onto Innovation in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 target price on shares of Onto Innovation in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Oppenheimer reduced their target price on shares of Onto Innovation from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Onto Innovation currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $246.88.

Onto Innovation Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of ONTO opened at $135.84 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $175.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $181.77. The company has a market capitalization of $6.69 billion, a PE ratio of 33.47, a P/E/G ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.29. Onto Innovation has a 52-week low of $121.47 and a 52-week high of $238.93.

Onto Innovation (NYSE:ONTO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The semiconductor company reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.10. Onto Innovation had a net margin of 20.43% and a return on equity of 14.24%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Onto Innovation will post 6.26 EPS 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.