Onto Innovation Inc. (NYSE:ONTO) Short Interest Down 20.5% in March

Onto Innovation Inc. (NYSE:ONTO - Get Free Report) was the target of a large drop in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,200,000 shares, a drop of 20.5% from the February 28th total of 1,510,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 964,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.2 days. Approximately 2.5% of the company's shares are short sold.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Michael P. Plisinski sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $211.24, for a total value of $6,337,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 185,492 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,183,330.08. This represents a 13.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Srinivas Vedula sold 827 shares of Onto Innovation stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $205.00, for a total value of $169,535.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 15,223 shares in the company, valued at $3,120,715. This represents a 5.15 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 85,827 shares of company stock valued at $18,182,185 in the last three months. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Onto Innovation by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,166,137 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $861,040,000 after acquiring an additional 76,233 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Onto Innovation by 9.2% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,192,238 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $365,380,000 after acquiring an additional 183,839 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Onto Innovation by 21.2% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,553,271 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $258,883,000 after acquiring an additional 271,470 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in shares of Onto Innovation by 41.6% in the fourth quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 1,515,152 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $252,530,000 after acquiring an additional 444,860 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Onto Innovation by 2.8% during the third 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.35% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Onto Innovation from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Onto Innovation in a report on Friday, February 7th. Benchmark reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $230.00 price objective on shares of Onto Innovation in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Oppenheimer cut their target price on Onto Innovation from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $200.00 price target on Onto Innovation and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, March 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $231.88.

Onto Innovation Price Performance

Shares of ONTO traded up $2.62 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $125.69. The company's stock had a trading volume of 553,871 shares, compared to its average volume of 740,263. The stock has a market cap of $6.19 billion, a PE ratio of 30.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.29. Onto Innovation has a 12-month low of $116.07 and a 12-month high of $238.93. The company's 50 day moving average is $160.73 and its 200 day moving average is $177.66.

Onto Innovation (NYSE:ONTO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The semiconductor company reported $1.51 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Onto Innovation will post 6.26 EPS for the current fiscal 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.