Royce & Associates LP Sells 35,935 Shares of Ultra Clean Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UCTT)

Key Points

• Royce & Associates LP reduced its holdings in Ultra Clean Holdings, Inc. by 3.9%, selling 35,935 shares and now owning a total of 891,753 shares valued at approximately $19 million.
• Wall Street analysts have lowered their target prices for Ultra Clean, with ratings shifting from "hold" to "sell," and an average target price now set at $37.00.
• The company reported a quarterly earnings miss with an EPS of $0.28, falling short of estimates, while revenue increased 8.6% year-over-year, totaling $518.60 million.

Royce & Associates LP reduced its holdings in shares of Ultra Clean Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UCTT - Free Report) by 3.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 891,753 shares of the semiconductor company's stock after selling 35,935 shares during the quarter. Royce & Associates LP owned 1.98% of Ultra Clean worth $19,092,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Ultra Clean in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,988,000. Swiss National Bank increased its stake in shares of Ultra Clean by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 88,600 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $3,185,000 after buying an additional 900 shares during the period. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new stake in shares of Ultra Clean in the fourth quarter valued at about $356,000. LPL Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Ultra Clean by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 25,876 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $930,000 after buying an additional 1,504 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ultra Clean by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,835,228 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $173,826,000 after buying an additional 129,616 shares during the period. 96.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on UCTT shares. Wall Street Zen cut Ultra Clean from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on Ultra Clean from $48.00 to $32.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Needham & Company LLC decreased their target price on Ultra Clean from $40.00 to $26.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, Oppenheimer decreased their target price on Ultra Clean from $60.00 to $30.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Ultra Clean currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $37.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Jeffrey L. Mckibben sold 6,294 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.87, for a total value of $131,355.78. Following the transaction, the insider owned 21,996 shares in the company, valued at $459,056.52. This trade represents a 22.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Jamie J. Palfrey sold 9,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.20, for a total value of $182,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 30,465 shares in the company, valued at $584,928. This represents a 23.77% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 19,878 shares of company stock worth $399,765 over the last 90 days. 1.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ultra Clean Stock Up 1.1%

Ultra Clean stock traded up $0.26 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $23.96. The stock had a trading volume of 350,400 shares, compared to its average volume of 502,251. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 1.83 and a current ratio of 3.03. Ultra Clean Holdings, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $16.66 and a fifty-two week high of $54.00. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $22.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $25.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.08 billion, a PE ratio of 38.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 2.07.

Ultra Clean (NASDAQ:UCTT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 28th. The semiconductor company reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.31 by ($0.03). Ultra Clean had a net margin of 1.31% and a return on equity of 5.50%. The firm had revenue of $518.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $526.13 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.27 EPS. The company's revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Ultra Clean Holdings, Inc. will post 1.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.