Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) Stock Price Down 7.9% – What’s Next?

Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI)’s stock price fell 7.9% on Monday . The stock traded as low as $342.65 and last traded at $342.3240. Approximately 99,155 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 78% from the average session volume of 447,632 shares. The stock had previously closed at $371.81.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on NVMI shares. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their price objective on shares of Nova from $600.00 to $500.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Nova from $494.00 to $540.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Evercore set a $475.00 price target on shares of Nova in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Nova from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Nova from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Nova has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $514.44.

Nova Trading Up 0.1%

The company has a market capitalization of $10.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.76. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $399.46 and a 200 day moving average of $460.41.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) last posted its earnings results on Friday, August 7th. The semiconductor company reported $2.51 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.41 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $254.96 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $250.33 million. Nova had a net margin of 28.84% and a return on equity of 21.41%. The firm’s revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.20 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Nova Ltd. will post 9.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nova announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, September 2nd that allows the company to buyback $200.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the semiconductor company to purchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Nova

In other news, CEO Gabriel Waisman sold 1,500 shares of Nova stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $342.27, for a total transaction of $513,405.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 27,214 shares in the company, valued at $9,314,535.78. This trade represents a 5.22% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Eitan Oppenhaim sold 1,290 shares of Nova stock in a transaction on Monday, June 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $581.20, for a total transaction of $749,748.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 6,421 shares in the company, valued at $3,731,885.20. This represents a 16.73% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 6,942 shares of company stock valued at $3,419,027 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nova

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of NVMI. Engineers Gate Manager LP purchased a new position in Nova during the second quarter valued at $276,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its position in Nova by 4.9% in the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,383 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $751,000 after buying an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc raised its stake in shares of Nova by 688.9% in the second quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 71 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Nova by 175.0% in the second quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,353 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $735,000 after buying an additional 861 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi lifted its position in shares of Nova by 19.6% during the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 65,163 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $35,380,000 after buying an additional 10,690 shares in the last quarter. 82.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Nova Company Profile

Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ: NVMI) is an Israel-based provider of metrology and process-control solutions for the semiconductor manufacturing industry. The company develops systems that help chip manufacturers measure and control critical process parameters during wafer fabrication, supporting the production of increasingly small and complex semiconductor devices.

Nova’s product portfolio includes optical and x-ray metrology systems, dimensional and materials measurement solutions, chemical metrology tools, and integrated metrology systems that can be incorporated into semiconductor production equipment.