Ultra Clean (NASDAQ:UCTT) Shares Up 3.7% – Still a Buy?

Shares of Ultra Clean Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UCTT) shot up 3.7% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $38.15 and last traded at $37.99. 15,047 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 95% from the average session volume of 274,817 shares. The stock had previously closed at $36.63.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on UCTT. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of Ultra Clean from $60.00 to $57.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Oppenheimer began coverage on shares of Ultra Clean in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $70.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Needham & Company LLC decreased their price objective on shares of Ultra Clean from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th.

Ultra Clean Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 2.75 and a quick ratio of 1.63. The stock has a market cap of $1.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 481.25 and a beta of 2.10. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $37.09 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $38.93.

Ultra Clean (NASDAQ:UCTT) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The semiconductor company reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $540.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $515.88 million. Ultra Clean had a net margin of 0.18% and a return on equity of 4.08%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 24.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.03) earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Ultra Clean Holdings, Inc. will post 1.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Ultra Clean

In other news, COO Harjinder Bajwa bought 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 31st. The shares were acquired at an average price of $33.33 per share, for a total transaction of $83,325.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief operating officer now directly owns 29,291 shares in the company, valued at approximately $976,269.03. This represents a 9.33 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Jeffrey L. Mckibben sold 3,422 shares of Ultra Clean stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.20, for a total transaction of $130,720.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 18,805 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $718,351. This trade represents a 15.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have acquired 27,500 shares of company stock worth $943,275. Company insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ultra Clean

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of Ultra Clean by 395.1% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 83,577 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $3,337,000 after acquiring an additional 66,695 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Ultra Clean by 130.1% during the third quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 367,212 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $14,663,000 after purchasing an additional 207,633 shares during the period. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Ultra Clean in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,048,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of Ultra Clean by 27.9% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 506,107 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $20,209,000 after purchasing an additional 110,403 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in Ultra Clean by 454.2% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 335,096 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $13,380,000 after buying an additional 274,628 shares in the last quarter. 96.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Ultra Clean

Ultra Clean Holdings, Inc develops and supplies critical subsystems, components and parts, and ultra-high purity cleaning and analytical services for the semiconductor industry in the United States and internationally. The company provides ultra-clean valves, high purity connectors, industrial process connectors and valves, pneumatic actuators, manifolds and safety solutions, hoses, pressure gauges, and gas line and component heaters; chemical delivery modules that deliver gases and reactive chemicals in a liquid or gaseous form from a centralized subsystem to the reaction chamber; and gas delivery systems, such as weldments, filters, mass flow controllers, regulators, pressure transducers and valves, component heaters, and an integrated electronic and/or pneumatic control system.