Raiffeisen Bank International AG Makes New $9.86 Million Investment in Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI)

Raiffeisen Bank International AG bought a new position in shares of Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 50,000 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,859,000. Raiffeisen Bank International AG owned approximately 0.17% of Nova as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Nova in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their price objective on shares of Nova from $315.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 14th. Benchmark lowered their price objective on shares of Nova from $295.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Nova from $290.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Nova from $310.00 to $248.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $277.00.

Nova Price Performance

Nova stock opened at $195.13 on Friday. Nova Ltd. has a 12-month low of $154.00 and a 12-month high of $289.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.66. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $191.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $207.16.

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

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.