Novanta (NASDAQ:NOVT) Shares Gap Down After Earnings Miss

Novanta Inc. (NASDAQ:NOVT)’s share price gapped down before the market opened on Tuesday following a weaker than expected earnings announcement. The stock had previously closed at $174.17, but opened at $159.69. Novanta shares last traded at $156.94, with a volume of 32,489 shares traded.

The technology company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.86 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $244.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $242.33 million. Novanta had a net margin of 6.91% and a return on equity of 15.77%. Novanta’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.85 earnings per share.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Novanta from $175.00 to $169.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday.

Insider Transactions at Novanta

In related news, CFO Robert Buckley sold 3,660 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.01, for a total transaction of $636,876.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 120,419 shares in the company, valued at $20,954,110.19. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 9,150 shares of company stock valued at $1,608,936. 1.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Novanta

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Novanta by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,861,416 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $674,860,000 after buying an additional 45,937 shares during the last quarter. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC purchased a new position in Novanta in the first quarter worth $780,000. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in Novanta by 750.4% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 15,588 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,724,000 after acquiring an additional 13,755 shares during the last quarter. Clearline Capital LP raised its position in Novanta by 71.1% during the second quarter. Clearline Capital LP now owns 11,497 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,875,000 after purchasing an additional 4,778 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Novanta by 33.1% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 237 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. 98.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Novanta Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 2.77 and a quick ratio of 1.73. The stock has a market cap of $6.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 105.17 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $174.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $169.77.

About Novanta

Novanta Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides precision medicine and manufacturing, medical solutions, and robotics and automation solutions in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Precision Medicine and Manufacturing, Medical Solutions, and Robotics and Automation.