Novanta (NASDAQ:NOVT) Reaches New 12-Month Low – Here’s Why

Shares of Novanta Inc. (NASDAQ:NOVT) reached a new 52-week low on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $134.69 and last traded at $134.97, with a volume of 239586 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $136.54.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on Novanta from $169.00 to $160.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 3rd.

Novanta Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $4.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 80.82 and a beta of 1.34. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $146.43 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $162.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 1.81 and a current ratio of 2.79.

Novanta (NASDAQ:NOVT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The technology company reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.05. Novanta had a return on equity of 15.20% and a net margin of 6.52%. The company had revenue of $238.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $240.29 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.63 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Novanta Inc. will post 3.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Novanta

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of NOVT. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in Novanta by 28.4% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 963 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $166,000 after acquiring an additional 213 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Novanta by 13.1% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 8,512 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,523,000 after acquiring an additional 986 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Novanta by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 24,147 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,320,000 after acquiring an additional 620 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its position in Novanta by 14.9% during the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,059 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $189,000 after acquiring an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zions Bancorporation N.A. grew its position in Novanta by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 11,725 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,098,000 after acquiring an additional 546 shares during the last quarter. 98.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Novanta

Novanta, Inc engages in the provision of core technology solutions to healthcare and advanced industrial original equipment manufacturers. It operates through the following segments: Photonics, Vision, and Precision Motion. The Photonics segment designs, manufactures, and markets photonics-based solutions, including laser scanning and laser beam delivery, CO2 laser, continuous wave and ultrafast laser, and optical light engine products.