FormFactor (NASDAQ:FORM) Upgraded to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of FormFactor (NASDAQ:FORM) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Thursday.

FORM has been the topic of several other research reports. Needham & Company LLC restated a buy rating and set a $46.00 price objective on shares of FormFactor in a report on Thursday, February 8th. TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of FormFactor from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, TheStreet upgraded shares of FormFactor from a c rating to a b- rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, FormFactor presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $41.63.

FormFactor Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ FORM opened at $45.87 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $3.55 billion, a PE ratio of 43.27 and a beta of 1.18. FormFactor has a 12-month low of $24.88 and a 12-month high of $47.94. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $43.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $39.44. The company has a quick ratio of 3.52, a current ratio of 4.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01.

FormFactor (NASDAQ:FORM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The semiconductor company reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.09. The business had revenue of $168.16 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $165.49 million. FormFactor had a net margin of 12.42% and a return on equity of 2.43%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that FormFactor will post 0.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Shai Shahar sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.12, for a total value of $421,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 67,141 shares in the company, valued at $2,827,978.92. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Shai Shahar sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.12, for a total transaction of $421,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 67,141 shares in the company, valued at $2,827,978.92. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Mike Slessor sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.38, for a total transaction of $173,520.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 499,781 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,680,499.78. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 28,000 shares of company stock worth $1,223,580 over the last quarter. Insiders own 1.03% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of FormFactor

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FORM. Raymond James & Associates boosted its position in FormFactor by 77.5% during the first quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 22,526 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $947,000 after purchasing an additional 9,836 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. boosted its position in FormFactor by 8.0% during the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 20,565 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $864,000 after purchasing an additional 1,521 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in FormFactor by 4.2% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 43,413 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,825,000 after purchasing an additional 1,767 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its position in FormFactor by 2.2% during the first quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 21,496 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $901,000 after purchasing an additional 465 shares during the period. Finally, Citigroup Inc. boosted its position in FormFactor by 11.9% during the first quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 71,507 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $3,006,000 after purchasing an additional 7,621 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.76% of the company’s stock.

FormFactor Company Profile

FormFactor, Inc designs, manufactures, and sells probe cards, analytical probes, probe stations, metrology systems, thermal systems, and cryogenic systems to semiconductor companies and scientific institutions in the United States, Taiwan, South Korea, China, Europe, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, and internationally.