Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) Shares Gap Up – Still a Buy?

Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) gapped up prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $188.57, but opened at $195.97. Nova shares last traded at $194.35, with a volume of 3,341 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on NVMI shares. Citigroup cut Nova from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $273.00 to $224.00 in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Benchmark raised their price objective on shares of Nova from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Nova currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $226.80.

Nova Trading Up 1.2 %

The firm’s 50-day moving average is $210.97 and its 200-day moving average is $206.27. The firm has a market cap of $5.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 1.46.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The semiconductor company reported $1.61 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.18 by $0.43. Nova had a net margin of 27.38% and a return on equity of 20.76%. The business had revenue of $156.86 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $148.12 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.97 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Nova Ltd. will post 5.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nova

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in shares of Nova by 231.2% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 31,083 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $5,514,000 after buying an additional 21,699 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Nova by 1.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 987,071 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $175,087,000 after purchasing an additional 14,115 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Nova in the first quarter worth about $2,589,000. Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in shares of Nova by 12.7% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 128,423 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $22,780,000 after buying an additional 14,508 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP bought a new position in Nova in the 1st quarter worth approximately $38,661,000. Institutional investors own 82.99% of the company’s stock.

Nova Company Profile

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.