Nova Ltd. $NVMI Stock Bought by Phoenix Financial Ltd.

Phoenix Financial Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) by 133.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,440,315 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after buying an additional 822,684 shares during the quarter. Nova comprises about 3.7% of Phoenix Financial Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Phoenix Financial Ltd.’s holdings in Nova were worth $554,671,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. grew its position in shares of Nova by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 1,706,657 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $657,404,000 after buying an additional 86,000 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Nova during the 2nd quarter worth $391,367,000. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in Nova in the second quarter valued at $308,300,000. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in Nova in the second quarter valued at $82,530,000. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in Nova by 338.3% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 190,399 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $82,434,000 after acquiring an additional 146,959 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.99% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Shay Wolfing sold 3,864 shares of Nova stock in a transaction on Monday, September 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $363.28, for a total value of $1,403,713.92. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 21,409 shares in the company, valued at $7,777,461.52. This trade represents a 15.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 27,214 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,314,535.78. This trade represents a 5.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 7,820 shares of company stock valued at $2,717,775 over the last three months. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Nova Stock Performance

Nova stock traded down $9.78 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $317.86. 295,654 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 294,133. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $344.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $433.87. Nova Ltd. has a twelve month low of $266.43 and a twelve month high of $615.99. The firm has a market cap of $10.10 billion, a PE ratio of 36.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 5.39 and a current ratio of 6.21.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 5th. The semiconductor company reported $2.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.77 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $287.84 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $282.23 million. Nova had a return on equity of 22.13% and a net margin of 29.87%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 28.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.16 earnings per share. Nova has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.030-3.180 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Nova Ltd. will post 10.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nova announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, September 2nd that permits the company to buy back $200 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the semiconductor company to buy up to 1.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Share repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NVMI has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of Nova from $600.00 to $460.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 6th. Needham & Company LLC cut their target price on Nova from $570.00 to $420.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 5th. Zacks Research downgraded Nova from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 5th. Citigroup downgraded Nova from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $550.00 to $415.00 in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Nova from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, November 9th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Nova currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $470.00.

Nova Company Profile

Nova Ltd. develops metrology and process-control solutions used in semiconductor manufacturing. Its systems measure the dimensions and material properties of structures on silicon wafers, helping chipmakers monitor and control production processes as devices become smaller and more complex. The company’s offerings include optical and X-ray measurement systems, alongside software that analyzes process data. These tools are used in wafer-fabrication facilities and research and development environments.