National Bank of Canada FI Has $15 Million Position in Onto Innovation Inc. (NYSE:ONTO)

National Bank of Canada FI boosted its holdings in shares of Onto Innovation Inc. (NYSE:ONTO - Free Report) by 631.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 90,000 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after acquiring an additional 77,700 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI owned about 0.18% of Onto Innovation worth $15,000,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Onto Innovation by 21.2% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,553,271 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $258,883,000 after buying an additional 271,470 shares in the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its position in shares of Onto Innovation by 11.7% in the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 6,953 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $1,159,000 after acquiring an additional 728 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Onto Innovation during the fourth quarter valued at $87,987,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Onto Innovation by 9.2% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,192,238 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $365,380,000 after purchasing an additional 183,839 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Artisan Partners Limited Partnership raised its stake in Onto Innovation by 41.6% in the 4th quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 1,515,152 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $252,530,000 after purchasing an additional 444,860 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.35% of the company's stock.

Onto Innovation Trading Down 13.9 %

NYSE ONTO traded down $18.52 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $114.85. 524,459 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,060,420. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $146.83 and a 200-day simple moving average of $173.50. Onto Innovation Inc. has a 1-year low of $98.21 and a 1-year high of $238.93. The company has a market cap of $5.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.35, a P/E/G ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.46.

Onto Innovation (NYSE:ONTO - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The semiconductor company reported $1.51 earnings per share (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%. Equities research analysts forecast that Onto Innovation Inc. will post 6.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Onto Innovation

In related news, CEO Michael P. Plisinski sold 35,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $219.19, for a total transaction of $7,671,650.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 150,492 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,986,341.48. This trade represents a 18.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Srinivas Vedula sold 827 shares of Onto Innovation stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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. Insiders sold 85,827 shares of company stock worth $18,182,185 in the last 90 days. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ONTO. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on shares of Onto Innovation from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $200.00 price objective on Onto Innovation and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 28th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $230.00 target price on shares of Onto Innovation in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Onto Innovation from $245.00 to $175.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 28th. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $230.00 price objective on shares of Onto Innovation in a report on Friday, February 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $231.88.

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.