Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) Shares Gap Down on Analyst Downgrade

Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI)’s stock price gapped down before the market opened on Monday after Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their price target on the stock from $315.00 to $300.00. The stock had previously closed at $219.13, but opened at $212.84. Cantor Fitzgerald currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Nova shares last traded at $211.29, with a volume of 32,684 shares changing hands.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on NVMI. Benchmark lifted their price objective on Nova from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Nova in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Citigroup raised shares of Nova from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $226.00 to $240.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $250.83.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nova

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wasatch Advisors LP raised its position in Nova by 49.3% in the 4th quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 2,411,677 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $474,980,000 after purchasing an additional 796,629 shares during the period. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Nova by 7.9% in the fourth quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd now owns 1,383,339 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $272,517,000 after buying an additional 101,470 shares during the period. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Nova by 7.6% during the 4th quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 1,370,985 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $270,015,000 after acquiring an additional 97,000 shares during the last quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Nova by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 1,169,625 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $230,358,000 after acquiring an additional 11,915 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Nova by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,047,782 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $205,985,000 after acquiring an additional 14,667 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.99% of the company’s stock.

Nova Trading Down 3.7 %

The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $240.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of $211.21. The company has a market cap of $6.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.75, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.46.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The semiconductor company reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.82 by ($0.04). Nova had a return on equity of 22.33% and a net margin of 27.33%. The company had revenue of $194.77 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $186.50 million. On average, equities analysts forecast that Nova Ltd. will post 7.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Nova

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.