Short Interest in Onto Innovation Inc. (NYSE:ONTO) Declines By 14.1%

Onto Innovation Inc. (NYSE:ONTO) saw a large decline in short interest in February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,220,000 shares, a decline of 14.1% from the January 31st total of 1,420,000 shares. Currently, 2.5% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 859,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.4 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on Onto Innovation from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 target price on shares of Onto Innovation in a research report on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Onto Innovation from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 price objective on shares of Onto Innovation in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Onto Innovation from $270.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Onto Innovation currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $246.88.

Insider Buying and Selling at Onto Innovation

In related news, SVP Srinivas Vedula sold 827 shares of the 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 15,223 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,120,715. This trade represents a 5.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael P. Plisinski sold 35,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 150,492 shares in the company, valued at $32,986,341.48. This trade represents a 18.87 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 85,827 shares of company stock valued at $18,182,185 in the last 90 days. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Onto Innovation

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ONTO. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Onto Innovation during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Mather Group LLC. increased its holdings in shares of Onto Innovation by 209.4% during the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 164 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the period. Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Onto Innovation during the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted 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 buying an additional 197 shares during the period. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Onto Innovation in the fourth quarter valued at about $43,000. 98.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Onto Innovation Price Performance

Shares of ONTO opened at $135.03 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.65 billion, a PE ratio of 33.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.31. Onto Innovation has a one year low of $129.53 and a one year high of $238.93. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $183.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $187.23.

Onto Innovation (NYSE:ONTO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The semiconductor company reported $1.51 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.10. Onto Innovation had a return on equity of 14.24% and a net margin of 20.43%. Analysts anticipate that Onto Innovation will post 6.26 earnings per share for the current 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.