Insider Selling: NovoCure (NASDAQ:NVCR) CEO Sells 34,273 Shares of Stock

NovoCure Limited (NASDAQ:NVCR) CEO Frank Leonard sold 34,273 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.93, for a total transaction of $614,514.89. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 459,520 shares in the company, valued at $8,239,193.60. This represents a 6.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

NovoCure Stock Performance

Shares of NovoCure stock traded down $0.83 during trading on Friday, hitting $17.16. 2,138,238 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,783,299. The company has a current ratio of 2.90, a quick ratio of 2.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. NovoCure Limited has a 1-year low of $9.82 and a 1-year high of $19.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.22 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $14.29 and a 200-day moving average price of $13.19.

NovoCure (NASDAQ:NVCR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The medical equipment provider reported ($0.62) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.51) by ($0.11). NovoCure had a negative return on equity of 50.82% and a negative net margin of 25.66%.The firm had revenue of $174.06 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $167.77 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.31) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that NovoCure Limited will post -1.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NVCR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. HC Wainwright boosted their price target on NovoCure from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $18.00 price target on shares of NovoCure in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Weiss Ratings upgraded NovoCure from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research note on Monday. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of NovoCure in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on NovoCure from $13.50 to $17.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $27.29.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On NovoCure

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of NovoCure by 453.4% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 5,069,895 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $65,554,000 after acquiring an additional 4,153,741 shares during the last quarter. Soleus Capital Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of NovoCure by 25.0% during the second quarter. Soleus Capital Management L.P. now owns 6,904,302 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $122,897,000 after acquiring an additional 1,382,888 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of NovoCure by 1,093.2% during the fourth quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,223,755 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $15,823,000 after acquiring an additional 1,121,192 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in shares of NovoCure by 346.7% during the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 1,245,541 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock valued at $13,576,000 after acquiring an additional 966,735 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund purchased a new stake in shares of NovoCure in the fourth quarter valued at $11,991,000. 84.61% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NovoCure Company Profile

NovoCure is a global oncology company pioneering Tumor Treating Fields (TTFields), a novel anti-mitotic therapy for solid tumors. The company’s non-invasive treatment platforms deliver low-intensity, alternating electric fields designed to disrupt cancer cell division. NovoCure’s approach offers an alternative modality to complement existing therapies in oncology, with a focus on hard-to-treat malignancies.

Founded in 2000 and headquartered in Haifa, Israel, NovoCure maintains a second operational center in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.