Barclays PLC Trims Stake in FARO Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:FARO)

Barclays PLC lessened its position in shares of FARO Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:FARO) by 4.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 58,614 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock after selling 2,511 shares during the quarter. Barclays PLC’s holdings in FARO Technologies were worth $1,486,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of FARO Technologies by 13.1% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 8,345 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $212,000 after acquiring an additional 966 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers raised its position in FARO Technologies by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 31,279 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $793,000 after purchasing an additional 1,333 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI acquired a new stake in FARO Technologies during the 4th quarter worth $55,000. Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its position in FARO Technologies by 27.7% during the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 12,307 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock worth $312,000 after purchasing an additional 2,672 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in FARO Technologies by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 65,722 shares of the scientific and technical instruments company’s stock valued at $1,667,000 after purchasing an additional 3,373 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.19% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of FARO Technologies from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 16th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on FARO Technologies from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other FARO Technologies news, CEO Peter James Lau sold 4,617 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.30, for a total transaction of $135,278.10. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 160,076 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,690,226.80. This represents a 2.80 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Yuval Wasserman sold 5,658 shares of FARO Technologies stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.35, for a total transaction of $177,378.30. Following the sale, the director now owns 153,512 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,812,601.20. The trade was a 3.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 11,755 shares of company stock worth $356,020. Company insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

FARO Technologies Stock Performance

Shares of FARO opened at $30.81 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $592.35 million, a P/E ratio of -88.03 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 1.83 and a current ratio of 2.17. 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 $27.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $26.80.

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

FARO Technologies Profile

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.