Ultra Clean (NASDAQ:UCTT) Shares Gap Up – Time to Buy?

Ultra Clean Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UCTT) gapped up prior to trading on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $50.78, but opened at $54.10. Ultra Clean shares last traded at $57.4560, with a volume of 494,570 shares trading hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on UCTT shares. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price target on Ultra Clean from $35.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Ultra Clean in a research note on Monday, December 29th. TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of Ultra Clean from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Ultra Clean in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $38.33.

Ultra Clean Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $2.63 billion, a P/E ratio of -16.25, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 2.02. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $34.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 3.21 and a quick ratio of 1.91.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director David T. Ibnale sold 23,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.63, for a total value of $625,805.00. Following the sale, the director owned 45,241 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,204,767.83. This trade represents a 34.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in Ultra Clean by 8.1% during the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 426,561 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $10,805,000 after buying an additional 31,856 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ultra Clean by 10.1% during the 4th quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 17,491 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $443,000 after purchasing an additional 1,606 shares in the last quarter. Penn Capital Management Company LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ultra Clean during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,768,000. Optimize Financial Inc increased its position in shares of Ultra Clean by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Optimize Financial Inc now owns 57,359 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,453,000 after purchasing an additional 824 shares during the period. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ultra Clean by 43.6% in the fourth quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 3,937 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $100,000 after purchasing an additional 1,195 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.06% of the company’s stock.

About Ultra Clean

Ultra Clean Holdings, Inc is a global supplier of critical consumables and process tools for the semiconductor manufacturing industry. The company specializes in precision parts cleaning, chemical–mechanical planarization (CMP) slurries, surface conditioning pads, and specialty components used in wafer fabrication and advanced packaging. Ultra Clean also provides assembly and test hardware, tooling, and automated modules designed to support complex front-end and back-end processes in semiconductor fabs.

Ultra Clean’s product portfolio encompasses a range of cleaning systems and consumables aimed at particle and film removal, as well as CMP slurries and pads that are engineered for uniform material removal and planarization.