Onto Innovation (NYSE:ONTO) Shares Gap Down Following Analyst Downgrade

Onto Innovation Inc. (NYSE:ONTO)’s share price gapped down prior to trading on Wednesday after Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on the stock from $200.00 to $180.00. The stock had previously closed at $120.47, but opened at $114.85. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a buy rating on the stock. Onto Innovation shares last traded at $115.38, with a volume of 100,165 shares changing hands.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 price target on shares of Onto Innovation in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on Onto Innovation from $240.00 to $150.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Onto Innovation in a report on Friday, February 7th. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 price target on shares of Onto Innovation in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Onto Innovation from $245.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Onto Innovation presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $218.13.

Insider Activity at Onto Innovation

In other news, CEO Michael P. Plisinski sold 35,000 shares of Onto Innovation stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $219.19, for a total value 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. The trade was a 18.87 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.72% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Onto Innovation

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Onto Innovation by 1.5% during 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 in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Onto Innovation by 9.2% during 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 during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Onto Innovation by 21.2% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,553,271 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $258,883,000 after acquiring an additional 271,470 shares in the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in Onto Innovation by 41.6% in the fourth quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 1,515,152 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $252,530,000 after acquiring an additional 444,860 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in 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. 98.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Onto Innovation Price Performance

The company has a fifty day moving average price of $137.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $169.95. The stock has a market cap of $5.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.30, a P/E/G ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.46.

Onto Innovation (NYSE:ONTO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The semiconductor company reported $1.51 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Onto Innovation Inc. will post 6.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.