Ultra Clean (NASDAQ:UCTT) Shares Gap Up – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Ultra Clean Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UCTT) gapped up prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $69.57, but opened at $77.50. Ultra Clean shares last traded at $79.9550, with a volume of 284,202 shares.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on UCTT shares. Zacks Research raised shares of Ultra Clean from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 25th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Ultra Clean from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ultra Clean from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on shares of Ultra Clean from $70.00 to $92.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Ultra Clean from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $113.40.

Ultra Clean Trading Up 18.4%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 3.07 and a quick ratio of 1.72. The company has a market cap of $3.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -19.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.83. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $100.48 and its 200 day moving average price is $75.46.

Ultra Clean (NASDAQ:UCTT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The semiconductor company reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $533.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $525.28 million. Ultra Clean had a positive return on equity of 4.28% and a negative net margin of 9.38%.Ultra Clean’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.28 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Ultra Clean Holdings, Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Ultra Clean

In other news, Director Emily M. Liggett sold 8,198 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.18, for a total value of $755,691.64. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 38,152 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,516,851.36. This represents a 17.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Sheri Savage sold 15,766 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.47, for a total value of $1,410,584.02. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 50,710 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,537,023.70. The trade was a 23.72% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders have sold 68,203 shares of company stock worth $5,838,174. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Ultra Clean by 40.3% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 989 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 284 shares during the period. Danske Bank A S increased its position in shares of Ultra Clean by 450.0% during the fourth quarter. Danske Bank A S now owns 1,100 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 900 shares during the period. AdvisorNet Financial Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Ultra Clean during the first quarter worth $34,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Ultra Clean by 472.9% during the second quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,713 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 1,414 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Ultra Clean by 37.3% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 721 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 196 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 96.06% of the company’s stock.

About Ultra Clean

Ultra Clean Holdings, Inc is a global supplier of critical consumables and process tools for the semiconductor manufacturing industry. The company specializes in precision parts cleaning, chemical–mechanical planarization (CMP) slurries, surface conditioning pads, and specialty components used in wafer fabrication and advanced packaging. Ultra Clean also provides assembly and test hardware, tooling, and automated modules designed to support complex front-end and back-end processes in semiconductor fabs.

Ultra Clean’s product portfolio encompasses a range of cleaning systems and consumables aimed at particle and film removal, as well as CMP slurries and pads that are engineered for uniform material removal and planarization.