USS Investment Management Ltd Acquires Shares of 11,332 Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI)

USS Investment Management Ltd acquired a new stake in Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 11,332 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,232,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Voloridge Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Nova by 36.8% in the 4th quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 167,090 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $32,908,000 after purchasing an additional 44,951 shares during the last quarter. Vident Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of Nova in the 4th quarter valued at $320,000. Sphera Management Technology Funds Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Nova in the 4th quarter valued at $886,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP grew its position in shares of Nova by 25.7% in the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 182,405 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $35,925,000 after buying an additional 37,305 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP grew its position in shares of Nova by 6.3% in the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 146,304 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $28,815,000 after buying an additional 8,631 shares during the last quarter. 82.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Nova Stock Performance

Shares of Nova stock opened at $183.00 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $187.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $207.10. The company has a market capitalization of $5.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.88, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.66. Nova Ltd. has a 1 year low of $154.00 and a 1 year high of $289.90.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The semiconductor company reported $2.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.08 by $0.10. Nova had a return on equity of 22.33% and a net margin of 27.33%. The business had revenue of $213.36 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $210.10 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.39 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 50.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Nova Ltd. will post 7.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on NVMI shares. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their target price on shares of Nova from $315.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Nova from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Nova in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Nova from $310.00 to $248.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Benchmark dropped their target price on shares of Nova from $295.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $277.00.

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.