D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in FormFactor, Inc. (NASDAQ:FORM)

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. lifted its stake in shares of FormFactor, Inc. (NASDAQ:FORM) by 45.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 252,952 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 79,240 shares during the quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. owned about 0.33% of FormFactor worth $11,130,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of FORM. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its stake in FormFactor by 127.0% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 3,114,779 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $137,050,000 after acquiring an additional 1,742,493 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of FormFactor by 10.9% in the 4th quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 6,037,082 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $265,632,000 after purchasing an additional 594,426 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in FormFactor by 29.9% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,542,296 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $111,861,000 after buying an additional 585,117 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in FormFactor by 138.2% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 981,926 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $43,205,000 after buying an additional 569,677 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of FormFactor by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,581,258 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $465,575,000 after acquiring an additional 484,176 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on FORM shares. DA Davidson cut their target price on shares of FormFactor from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of FormFactor from $43.00 to $33.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. B. Riley increased their target price on shares of FormFactor from $26.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of FormFactor in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price objective on FormFactor from $48.00 to $42.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, FormFactor presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $42.71.

FormFactor Stock Performance

Shares of FORM stock opened at $32.39 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 4.61, a quick ratio of 3.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $28.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $36.56. The company has a market cap of $2.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.39 and a beta of 1.14. FormFactor, Inc. has a 12-month low of $22.58 and a 12-month high of $63.63.

FormFactor (NASDAQ:FORM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The semiconductor company reported $0.23 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $171.36 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $170.03 million. FormFactor had a return on equity of 5.93% and a net margin of 9.12%. FormFactor’s quarterly revenue was up 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.18 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that FormFactor, Inc. will post 0.9 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at FormFactor

In other news, CEO Mike Slessor sold 4,000 shares of FormFactor stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.72, for a total transaction of $126,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 510,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,197,818. This trade represents a 0.78% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

FormFactor Profile

FormFactor, Inc designs, manufactures, and sells probe cards, analytical probes, probe stations, metrology systems, thermal systems, and cryogenic systems to semiconductor companies and scientific institutions in the United States, Taiwan, South Korea, China, Europe, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, and internationally.