Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) is Wasatch Advisors LP’s 4th Largest Position

Wasatch Advisors LP increased its position in Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) by 49.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,411,677 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 796,629 shares during the period. Nova accounts for 2.4% of Wasatch Advisors LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Wasatch Advisors LP owned approximately 0.08% of Nova worth $474,980,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in NVMI. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its position in shares of Nova by 24.1% in the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 401 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $79,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in Nova during the fourth quarter valued at $112,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its holdings in Nova by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,030 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $203,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC grew its stake in shares of Nova by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 1,149 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $226,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Nova by 79.6% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,182 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $233,000 after acquiring an additional 524 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.99% of the company’s stock.

Nova Stock Up 1.4 %

NVMI opened at $186.78 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.54, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.63. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $216.64 and a 200-day moving average price of $208.31. Nova Ltd. has a twelve month low of $154.00 and a twelve month high of $289.90.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The semiconductor company reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $194.77 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $186.50 million. Nova had a net margin of 27.33% and a return on equity of 22.33%. As a group, analysts expect that Nova Ltd. will post 7.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on NVMI. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Nova in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Nova from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $226.00 to $240.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Benchmark boosted their price objective on shares of Nova from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald cut their target price on Nova from $315.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $250.83.

Nova 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.