Onto Innovation Inc. (NYSE:ONTO) Short Interest Up 18.3% in January

Onto Innovation Inc. (NYSE:ONTO) was the target of a significant increase in short interest during the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,420,000 shares, an increase of 18.3% from the January 15th total of 1,200,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 839,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.7 days. Currently, 2.9% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling at Onto Innovation

In other Onto Innovation news, SVP Srinivas Vedula sold 827 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were 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 directly owns 15,223 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,120,715. This represents a 5.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael P. Plisinski sold 35,000 shares of the company’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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 150,492 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,986,341.48. This represents 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 sold 85,827 shares of company stock valued at $18,182,185. Insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Onto Innovation

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Onto Innovation in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Mather Group LLC. raised its stake in shares of Onto Innovation by 209.4% in the fourth quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 164 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the period. Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Onto Innovation in the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Onto Innovation by 532.4% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 234 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares during the period. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Onto Innovation in the 4th quarter worth about $43,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.35% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on ONTO shares. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Onto Innovation from $270.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $275.00 target price on shares of Onto Innovation in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $250.00 target price on shares of Onto Innovation in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 target price on shares of Onto Innovation in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Onto Innovation from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $251.25.

Onto Innovation Stock Performance

ONTO stock traded up $2.83 during trading on Monday, hitting $176.68. 1,079,850 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 884,934. Onto Innovation has a 52 week low of $145.15 and a 52 week high of $238.93. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $186.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $189.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.31.

Onto Innovation (NYSE:ONTO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The semiconductor company reported $1.51 EPS 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 14.41%. Research analysts forecast that Onto Innovation will post 6.46 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.