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 trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on ONTO. Stifel Nicolaus set a $200.00 target price on Onto Innovation and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 28th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of Onto Innovation from $245.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 28th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $250.00 price objective on shares of Onto Innovation in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $230.00 target price on shares of Onto Innovation in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Onto Innovation from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Onto Innovation presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $231.88.

Onto Innovation Trading Down 14.4 %

The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $146.83 and a 200-day moving average price of $173.50. The firm has a market cap of $5.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.19, a P/E/G ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.46.

Onto Innovation (NYSE:ONTO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The semiconductor company reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.10. Onto Innovation had a return on equity of 14.24% and a net margin of 20.43%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Onto Innovation Inc. will post 6.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Onto Innovation

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Onto Innovation

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Onto Innovation by 72.0% in the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 10,184 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,095,000 after purchasing an additional 4,263 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its position in shares of Onto Innovation by 55.8% during the 3rd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 2,766 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $574,000 after buying an additional 991 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Onto Innovation by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,469,969 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $305,107,000 after acquiring an additional 39,367 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI bought a new position in shares of Onto Innovation in the third quarter valued at approximately $2,553,000. Finally, Zacks Investment Management lifted its position in Onto Innovation by 5.1% in the third quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 3,484 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $723,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.