Novanta (NASDAQ:NOVT) Stock Moved Up to Buy by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Novanta (NASDAQ:NOVT) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Saturday,Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on NOVT. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Novanta from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 6th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Novanta in a report on Tuesday, October 13th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $194.00 price target on Novanta in a research note on Friday, August 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $194.00.

Novanta Trading Up 2.5%

NASDAQ NOVT opened at $135.15 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 3.79, a current ratio of 4.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. Novanta has a 52 week low of $98.27 and a 52 week high of $176.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.11 billion, a PE ratio of 86.64 and a beta of 1.71. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $142.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $142.57.

Novanta (NASDAQ:NOVT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The technology company reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.06. Novanta had a net margin of 6.00% and a return on equity of 10.83%. The company had revenue of $265.81 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $262.30 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.76 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Novanta will post 3.70 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Novanta

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NOVT. Aberdeen Group plc acquired a new position in Novanta in the third quarter valued at $552,152,000. Bamco Inc. NY purchased a new position in shares of Novanta during the second quarter worth about $137,984,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Novanta during the second quarter worth about $124,254,000. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC purchased a new position in shares of Novanta during the second quarter worth about $71,407,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of Novanta by 27.0% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,776,694 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $210,307,000 after purchasing an additional 377,232 shares in the last quarter. 98.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Novanta Company Profile

Novanta Inc is a technology company that develops and manufactures precision equipment and components used primarily in medical and advanced industrial applications. Its solutions are designed to support the movement, imaging, measurement and processing functions of complex equipment.

The company’s products include photonics and laser components, precision motion-control systems, medical imaging and visualization technologies, and equipment used in minimally invasive and robotic surgery.