Ultra Clean (NASDAQ:UCTT) Shares Up 8.2% - Should You Buy?

Key Points

• Ultra Clean Holdings, Inc. shares surged 8.2% on Tuesday, closing at $23.93, with a significant drop in trade volume.
• Analysts have mixed ratings for Ultra Clean, with Needham raising its price target to $30.00 and Wall Street Zen downgrading from "hold" to "sell."
• The company reported earnings of $0.27 EPS for the last quarter, matching expectations, and showed a revenue increase of 0.5% year-over-year.

Ultra Clean Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UCTT - Get Free Report) was up 8.2% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $23.42 and last traded at $23.93. Approximately 58,847 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 89% from the average daily volume of 538,923 shares. The stock had previously closed at $22.11.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on UCTT shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Ultra Clean from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Ultra Clean from $48.00 to $32.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on shares of Ultra Clean from $26.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 29th.

Ultra Clean Stock Down 3.7%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 3.06 and a quick ratio of 1.86. The firm's 50-day moving average is $23.09 and its 200 day moving average is $24.17. The stock has a market cap of $1.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.99.

Ultra Clean (NASDAQ:UCTT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 28th. The semiconductor company reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.27. Ultra Clean had a negative net margin of 7.15% and a positive return on equity of 5.32%. The company had revenue of $518.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $500.83 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.32 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up .5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ultra Clean Holdings, Inc. will post 1.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ultra Clean

In other news, insider Jeffrey L. Mckibben sold 6,294 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.87, for a total value of $131,355.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 21,996 shares in the company, valued at approximately $459,056.52. This represents a 22.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, General Counsel Paul Yoonku Cho sold 4,084 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.06, for a total transaction of $86,009.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel owned 23,345 shares of the company's stock, valued at $491,645.70. This trade represents a 14.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Ultra Clean by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,847,408 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $103,783,000 after acquiring an additional 12,180 shares during the last quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC boosted its stake in Ultra Clean by 41.5% during the 2nd quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC now owns 2,754,163 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $62,161,000 after acquiring an additional 808,277 shares during the last quarter. Shapiro Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Ultra Clean by 66.8% during the 4th quarter. Shapiro Capital Management LLC now owns 2,746,482 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $98,736,000 after acquiring an additional 1,099,899 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Ultra Clean by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,406,834 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $86,526,000 after acquiring an additional 77,307 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Ultra Clean by 13.8% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,913,576 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $43,189,000 after acquiring an additional 231,901 shares during the last quarter. 96.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ultra Clean Company Profile

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.