Earnest Partners LLC Acquires 594,426 Shares of FormFactor, Inc. (NASDAQ:FORM)

Earnest Partners LLC boosted its position in FormFactor, Inc. (NASDAQ:FORM - Free Report) by 10.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,037,082 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after acquiring an additional 594,426 shares during the period. FormFactor accounts for 1.2% of Earnest Partners LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Earnest Partners LLC owned approximately 7.79% of FormFactor worth $265,632,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its holdings in FormFactor by 127.0% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 3,114,779 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $137,050,000 after purchasing an additional 1,742,493 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of FormFactor by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,581,258 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $465,575,000 after buying an additional 484,176 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. lifted its holdings in FormFactor by 34.5% in the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,595,498 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $70,202,000 after buying an additional 409,304 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP boosted its position in FormFactor by 30.1% during the 4th quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 1,757,086 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $77,312,000 after acquiring an additional 406,768 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of FormFactor during the 4th quarter worth approximately $14,222,000. 98.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on FORM. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on FormFactor from $43.00 to $33.00 and set an "in-line" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Citigroup raised shares of FormFactor from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $44.00 to $51.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. B. Riley lifted their price target on shares of FormFactor from $26.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday. DA Davidson cut their price objective on shares of FormFactor from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of FormFactor in a report on Thursday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $44.88.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Mike Slessor sold 4,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.72, for a total transaction of $126,880.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 510,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,197,818. This represents a 0.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders have sold 12,000 shares of company stock valued at $395,760 in the last ninety days. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

FormFactor Stock Performance

Shares of FormFactor stock traded up $1.45 during trading on Friday, hitting $30.42. 356,673 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 777,270. FormFactor, Inc. has a 1 year low of $22.58 and a 1 year high of $63.63. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $29.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $37.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.11 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 4.61 and a quick ratio of 3.83.

FormFactor (NASDAQ:FORM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The semiconductor company reported $0.23 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.19 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $171.36 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $170.03 million. FormFactor had a net margin of 9.12% and a return on equity of 5.93%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.18 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that FormFactor, Inc. will post 0.9 EPS for the current year.

About FormFactor

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.