Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) Trading 7.6% Higher – Time to Buy?

Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI)’s stock price traded up 7.6% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $196.18 and last traded at $197.00. 78,911 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 66% from the average session volume of 229,402 shares. The stock had previously closed at $183.00.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on NVMI. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their price target on Nova from $315.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 14th. Benchmark lowered their price target on Nova from $295.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Nova in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Nova from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, 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 report on Wednesday, April 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $277.00.

Nova Stock Up 8.8%

The stock has a market cap of $5.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.75, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.66. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $187.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $207.12.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The semiconductor company reported $2.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.08 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $213.36 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $210.10 million. Nova had a net margin of 27.33% and a return on equity of 22.33%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 50.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.39 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Nova Ltd. will post 7.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Nova

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Wasatch Advisors LP boosted its stake in Nova by 49.3% in the fourth quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 2,411,677 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $474,980,000 after acquiring an additional 796,629 shares in the last quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd grew its stake in Nova by 7.8% during the 1st quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd now owns 1,490,554 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $274,254,000 after buying an additional 107,215 shares during the last quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. increased its position in Nova by 7.6% during 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 buying an additional 97,000 shares in the last quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. increased its position in Nova by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 1,212,485 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $223,497,000 after buying an additional 42,860 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Nova by 1.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,062,142 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $197,195,000 after buying an additional 14,360 shares during the last quarter. 82.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.