Van ECK Associates Corp Trims Position in Onto Innovation Inc. (NYSE:ONTO)

Van ECK Associates Corp lessened its stake in Onto Innovation Inc. (NYSE:ONTO) by 14.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 500 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 86 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Onto Innovation were worth $83,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ONTO. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in shares of Onto Innovation by 22.8% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 398 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $66,000 after buying an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. boosted its stake in Onto Innovation by 7.8% in the 3rd quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. now owns 1,050 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $218,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Huntington National Bank boosted its stake in Onto Innovation by 26.3% in the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 423 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $88,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Hunter Perkins Capital Management LLC raised its position in Onto Innovation by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Hunter Perkins Capital Management LLC now owns 2,415 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $403,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC raised its position in Onto Innovation by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC now owns 2,137 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $444,000 after buying an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. 98.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Onto Innovation

In other news, SVP Srinivas Vedula sold 827 shares of the business’s 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 owns 15,223 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,120,715. The trade was a 5.15 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, 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 value of $7,671,650.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 150,492 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,986,341.48. This represents a 18.87 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 85,827 shares of company stock valued at $18,182,185. 0.72% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on ONTO. Oppenheimer cut their target price on shares of Onto Innovation from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 price target on shares of Onto Innovation in a report on Friday, February 7th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price target on shares of 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 set a $230.00 target price on shares of Onto Innovation in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Onto Innovation from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $246.88.

Onto Innovation Trading Down 4.7 %

ONTO stock opened at $159.23 on Monday. Onto Innovation Inc. has a twelve month low of $145.15 and a twelve month high of $238.93. The company’s 50 day moving average is $186.90 and its two-hundred day moving average is $189.74. The stock has a market cap of $7.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.22, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.31.

Onto Innovation (NYSE:ONTO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The semiconductor company reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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, equities research analysts predict that Onto Innovation Inc. 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.