Wasatch Advisors LP Has $465.41 Million Stake in Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI)

Wasatch Advisors LP decreased its position in Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) by 16.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,623,774 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 500,063 shares during the period. Nova comprises 2.4% of Wasatch Advisors LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Wasatch Advisors LP owned about 0.09% of Nova worth $465,405,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bank Hapoalim BM grew its stake in Nova by 13.1% in the fourth quarter. Bank Hapoalim BM now owns 2,166 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $298,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates grew its stake in shares of Nova by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 39,457 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $5,421,000 after buying an additional 613 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its holdings in Nova by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 11,446 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,589,000 after buying an additional 1,147 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC bought a new stake in Nova during the fourth quarter worth $201,000. Finally, McLean Asset Management Corp acquired a new stake in Nova in the first quarter valued at $262,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Benchmark boosted their price objective on shares of Nova from $187.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 10th. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on Nova in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $210.00 price target on the stock. Bank of America upped their price objective on Nova from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 10th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Nova in a research note on Monday, May 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $240.00 target price for the company. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Nova in a report on Friday, May 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Nova currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $221.25.

Nova Stock Performance

NVMI traded up $2.69 on Tuesday, reaching $235.54. The company had a trading volume of 186,428 shares, compared to its average volume of 171,226. The company’s fifty day moving average is $209.06 and its 200 day moving average is $176.02. The stock has a market cap of $6.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.27, a P/E/G ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 1.47. Nova Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $90.59 and a fifty-two week high of $242.93.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The semiconductor company reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $141.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $136.78 million. Nova had a return on equity of 19.89% and a net margin of 26.26%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.12 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Nova Ltd. will post 4.79 EPS for the current year.

About Nova

Nova Ltd. designs, develops, produces, and sells process control systems used in the manufacture of semiconductors in Israel, Taiwan, the United States, China, Korea, and internationally. Its product portfolio includes a set of metrology platforms for dimensional, films, and materials and chemical metrology measurements for process control for various semiconductor manufacturing process steps, including lithography, etch, chemical mechanical planarization, deposition, electrochemical plating, and advanced packaging.