Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) Given New $245.00 Price Target at Benchmark

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) had its price objective raised by Benchmark from $240.00 to $245.00 in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the semiconductor company’s stock. Benchmark’s target price suggests a potential upside of 23.94% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on NVMI. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Nova in a report on Friday. Citigroup cut Nova from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $273.00 to $224.00 in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Nova has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $227.80.

Nova Price Performance

NASDAQ NVMI opened at $197.68 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.47. Nova has a 12 month low of $102.23 and a 12 month high of $247.21. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $198.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $208.12.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nova

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in NVMI. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Nova by 89.7% in the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 165 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas acquired a new stake in Nova in the second quarter worth $68,000. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Nova in the second quarter worth $79,000. Signaturefd LLC lifted its stake in Nova by 15.9% in the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 767 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $180,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Nova by 46.2% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,038 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $184,000 after acquiring an additional 328 shares during the period. 82.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.