Man Group plc Acquires 24,002 Shares of Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI)

Man Group plc boosted its position in Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) by 1,521.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 25,580 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 24,002 shares during the period. Man Group plc’s holdings in Nova were worth $5,038,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of NVMI. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its position in shares of Nova by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,688 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,120,000 after buying an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its stake in Nova by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,339 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $264,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Nova by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,030 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $203,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC grew its stake in shares of Nova by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 1,149 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $226,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. grew its stake in shares of Nova by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. now owns 4,742 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $935,000 after buying an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on NVMI. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Nova from $290.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 9th. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Nova from $310.00 to $248.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their target price on shares of Nova from $315.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 14th. Benchmark reduced their price target on shares of Nova from $295.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Nova in a research report on Friday, February 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Nova has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $277.00.

Nova Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of NVMI stock opened at $188.85 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $189.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $207.24. Nova Ltd. has a 52 week low of $154.00 and a 52 week high of $289.90. The stock has a market cap of $5.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.90, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.66.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The semiconductor company reported $2.18 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.08 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $213.36 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $210.10 million. Nova had a net margin of 27.33% and a return on equity of 22.33%. The firm’s revenue was up 50.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.39 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Nova Ltd. will post 7.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nova Company 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.