Onto Innovation Inc. (NYSE:ONTO) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Onto Innovation Inc. (NYSE:ONTO - Get Free Report) was the target of a large growth in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 1,510,000 shares, a growth of 23.8% from the February 13th total of 1,220,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 933,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.6 days. Currently, 3.1% of the company's shares are sold short.

Insider Transactions at Onto Innovation

In related news, SVP Srinivas Vedula sold 827 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 15,223 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,120,715. The trade was a 5.15 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Michael P. Plisinski sold 35,000 shares of Onto Innovation 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 150,492 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,986,341.48. The trade was a 18.87 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 85,827 shares of company stock worth $18,182,185 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.72% of the company's stock.

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Hedge Funds Weigh In On Onto Innovation

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Onto Innovation by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,166,137 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $861,040,000 after purchasing an additional 76,233 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 183,839 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position 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 acquiring an additional 271,470 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership raised its stake in shares of Onto Innovation by 41.6% during 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 during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Onto Innovation by 2.8% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,469,969 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $305,107,000 after purchasing an additional 39,367 shares during the last quarter. 98.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on Onto Innovation from $275.00 to $240.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Onto Innovation from $270.00 to $250.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $250.00 price objective on shares of Onto Innovation in a research report on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com upgraded Onto Innovation from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $230.00 target price on shares of Onto Innovation in a report on Friday, February 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $246.88.

Onto Innovation Price Performance

ONTO traded down $1.92 during trading on Friday, hitting $135.73. The stock had a trading volume of 496,828 shares, compared to its average volume of 691,502. The firm has a market cap of $6.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.33, a P/E/G ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $172.97 and a 200-day moving average price of $181.16. Onto Innovation has a one year low of $121.47 and a one year high of $238.93.

Onto Innovation (NYSE:ONTO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The semiconductor company reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 predict 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.