Onto Innovation (NYSE:ONTO) Shares Gap Down – Time to Sell?

Onto Innovation Inc. (NYSE:ONTO) gapped down prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $133.37, but opened at $123.79. Onto Innovation shares last traded at $118.10, with a volume of 146,308 shares changing hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on ONTO shares. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 price objective on shares of Onto Innovation in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $200.00 price target on Onto Innovation and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 28th. Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on Onto Innovation from $240.00 to $150.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. StockNews.com raised shares of Onto Innovation from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Onto Innovation from $245.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $220.63.

Onto Innovation Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $5.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.46. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $143.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $172.35.

Onto Innovation (NYSE:ONTO) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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%. Research analysts anticipate that Onto Innovation Inc. will post 6.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Onto Innovation news, CEO Michael P. Plisinski sold 20,000 shares of Onto Innovation stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.19, for a total transaction of $4,003,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 215,492 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,139,343.48. This trade represents a 8.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Srinivas Vedula sold 827 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 15,223 shares in the company, valued at $3,120,715. This trade represents a 5.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 85,827 shares of company stock worth $18,182,185 over the last 90 days. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Onto Innovation

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. UMB Bank n.a. increased its stake in shares of Onto Innovation by 22.8% during the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 398 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $66,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. Bridge City Capital LLC raised its holdings in Onto Innovation by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Bridge City Capital LLC now owns 8,165 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,361,000 after buying an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its position in shares of Onto Innovation by 5.6% in 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 during the last quarter. Hunter Perkins Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. raised its stake in shares of Onto Innovation by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. now owns 1,150 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $191,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.35% of the company’s stock.

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.