Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) Shares Up 3.3%

Shares of Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) shot up 3.3% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $217.30 and last traded at $214.71. 180,104 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 8% from the average session volume of 166,865 shares. The stock had previously closed at $207.88.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on NVMI. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Nova in a research report on Friday, May 10th. Benchmark boosted their target price on Nova from $187.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 10th. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on Nova in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $210.00 price target on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Nova in a report on Monday, May 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $240.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on Nova from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Nova has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $221.25.

Nova Stock Up 1.3 %

The company has a market capitalization of $6.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a 50-day moving average of $181.32 and a two-hundred day moving average of $155.76.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The semiconductor company reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $141.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $136.78 million. Nova had a return on equity of 19.89% and a net margin of 26.26%. The company’s revenue was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.12 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Nova Ltd. will post 4.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Nova

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NVMI. Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings in Nova by 20.6% during the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 672 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $76,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the period. abrdn plc grew its position in Nova by 1.3% in the third quarter. abrdn plc now owns 253,312 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $28,482,000 after acquiring an additional 3,345 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Nova by 13.0% during the third quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 12,175 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,369,000 after purchasing an additional 1,397 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank raised its stake in shares of Nova by 1.6% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 63,583 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $7,015,000 after acquiring an additional 990 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in Nova by 33.4% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 276,478 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $31,087,000 after buying an additional 69,249 shares in the last quarter. 82.99% of the stock is owned by 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.