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

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

Onto Innovation Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of ONTO stock traded up $2.83 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $176.68. 1,079,850 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 884,934. The firm has a market cap of $8.73 billion, a PE ratio of 43.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.31. The company’s 50 day moving average is $186.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $189.62. Onto Innovation has a 1 year low of $145.15 and a 1 year high of $238.93.

Onto Innovation (NYSE:ONTO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The semiconductor company reported $1.51 earnings per share (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%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Onto Innovation will post 6.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ONTO. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $230.00 price target on shares of Onto Innovation in a report on Friday, February 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $250.00 target price on shares of Onto Innovation in a report on Friday, February 7th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Onto Innovation from $270.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $275.00 target price on shares of Onto Innovation in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Onto Innovation from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $251.25.

Insider Buying and Selling at Onto Innovation

In other news, CEO Michael P. Plisinski sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 215,492 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $43,139,343.48. This trade represents a 8.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $169,535.00. Following 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 85,827 shares of company stock valued at $18,182,185. Corporate insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ONTO. Millennium Management LLC increased its position in Onto Innovation by 35.3% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 152,323 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $25,388,000 after acquiring an additional 39,771 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Onto Innovation by 80.9% in the 4th quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 412,720 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $68,786,000 after purchasing an additional 184,612 shares during the period. Granahan Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Onto Innovation by 9.3% in the 4th quarter. Granahan Investment Management LLC now owns 26,704 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $4,451,000 after purchasing an additional 2,261 shares during the period. Ethic Inc. bought a new stake in Onto Innovation during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $710,000. Finally, Circle Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Onto Innovation by 17.5% during the fourth quarter. Circle Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,559 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $927,000 after buying an additional 827 shares during the last quarter. 98.35% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.