Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) Given “Hold” Rating at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed their hold rating on shares of Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning,Benzinga reports.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on NVMI. Citigroup downgraded shares of Nova from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $273.00 to $224.00 in a report on Monday, September 16th. Benchmark boosted their price objective on Nova from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Nova currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $227.80.

Nova Price Performance

NASDAQ NVMI traded up $1.30 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $198.98. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 93,208 shares, compared to its average volume of 186,941. Nova has a 1-year low of $110.94 and a 1-year high of $247.21. The company’s 50-day moving average is $198.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $208.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.47.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The semiconductor company reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.43. Nova had a return on equity of 22.11% and a net margin of 28.00%. The firm had revenue of $156.86 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $148.12 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.97 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 27.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Nova will post 5.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nova

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norden Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Nova in the first quarter valued at about $289,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its holdings in shares of Nova by 231.2% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 31,083 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $5,514,000 after buying an additional 21,699 shares during the last quarter. Duality Advisers LP purchased a new stake in shares of Nova during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $266,000. Quantbot Technologies LP lifted its holdings in Nova by 12.8% in the first quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 11,650 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,066,000 after acquiring an additional 1,325 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in Nova by 15.1% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 2,661 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $472,000 after acquiring an additional 349 shares during the period. 82.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.