Prudential Financial Inc. Reduces Position in FARO Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:FARO)

Prudential Financial Inc. lowered its holdings in FARO Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:FARO) by 15.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 351,991 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 64,400 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. owned about 1.86% of FARO Technologies worth $8,926,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of FARO. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of FARO Technologies by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 222,559 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $4,260,000 after purchasing an additional 10,228 shares in the last quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd acquired a new stake in FARO Technologies in the third quarter valued at $213,000. Harvey Partners LLC raised its holdings in FARO Technologies by 17.8% in the third quarter. Harvey Partners LLC now owns 1,006,000 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $19,255,000 after acquiring an additional 152,000 shares in the last quarter. Invenomic Capital Management LP boosted its stake in FARO Technologies by 23.2% during the 3rd quarter. Invenomic Capital Management LP now owns 396,830 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $7,595,000 after acquiring an additional 74,631 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Needham Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in FARO Technologies by 20.0% during the 3rd quarter. Needham Investment Management LLC now owns 1,029,250 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $19,700,000 after acquiring an additional 171,300 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on FARO. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on shares of FARO Technologies from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. StockNews.com cut FARO Technologies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 16th. Finally, Craig Hallum lifted their target price on FARO Technologies from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Peter James Lau sold 4,617 shares of FARO Technologies stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.30, for a total transaction of $135,278.10. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 160,076 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,690,226.80. The trade was a 2.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Yuval Wasserman sold 5,658 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.35, for a total value of $177,378.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 153,512 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,812,601.20. This trade represents a 3.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 11,755 shares of company stock worth $356,020 in the last three months. 2.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

FARO Technologies Stock Down 3.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:FARO opened at $27.49 on Friday. FARO Technologies, Inc. has a 1-year low of $13.52 and a 1-year high of $33.13. The company’s fifty day moving average is $29.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is $25.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 1.83 and a current ratio of 2.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $521.82 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -78.54 and a beta of 1.55.

FARO Technologies (NASDAQ:FARO) last issued its earnings results on Monday, February 24th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $93.54 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $91.40 million. FARO Technologies had a negative return on equity of 2.49% and a negative net margin of 1.87%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.36 earnings per share.

About FARO Technologies

FARO Technologies, Inc designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and supports software driven three-dimensional measurement, imaging, and realization solutions worldwide. The company offers FaroArm, a combination of a portable articulated measurement arm, a computer, and CAM2 software programs; FARO Laser Tracker, a combination of a portable large-volume laser measurement tool, a computer, and CAM2 software programs; FARO Laser Projector, which provides a virtual template that operators and assemblers can use to position components; FARO Laser Scanning Portfolio to measure and collect a cloud of data points for 3D rendering of an object or area; and FARO Mobile Laser Portfolio provides 3D scanning while attached to other mobile devices, such as drones for metrology, reverse engineering, factory automation, building information modeling, public safety, and other applications.