Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) Shares Acquired by Capital World Investors

Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) by 33.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 600,868 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 150,000 shares during the period. Capital World Investors’ holdings in Nova were worth $118,341,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wasatch Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Nova by 49.3% during the fourth quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 2,411,677 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $474,980,000 after purchasing an additional 796,629 shares during the last quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd raised its position in Nova by 7.9% during the 4th quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd now owns 1,383,339 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $272,517,000 after buying an additional 101,470 shares during the last quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Nova by 7.6% in the 4th quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 1,370,985 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $270,015,000 after acquiring an additional 97,000 shares during the period. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Nova by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 1,169,625 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $230,358,000 after acquiring an additional 11,915 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Nova by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,047,782 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $205,985,000 after acquiring an additional 14,667 shares during the period. 82.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Nova Stock Performance

Nova stock opened at $175.62 on Monday. Nova Ltd. has a fifty-two week low of $154.00 and a fifty-two week high of $289.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.63. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $212.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $207.81.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The semiconductor company reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.82 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $194.77 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $186.50 million. Nova had a net margin of 27.33% and a return on equity of 22.33%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Nova Ltd. will post 7.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on NVMI shares. Benchmark lifted their price objective on Nova from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their price objective on Nova from $315.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 14th. Citigroup upgraded Nova from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $226.00 to $240.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Bank of America decreased 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, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Nova in a research note on Friday, February 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $264.60.

About Nova

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.