Nova’s (NVMI) Hold Rating Reaffirmed at Needham & Company LLC

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI)‘s stock had its “hold” rating reissued by equities researchers at Needham & Company LLC in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Benchmark upped their target price on shares of Nova from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Citigroup lowered shares of Nova from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $273.00 to $224.00 in a report on Monday, September 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $226.80.

Nova Trading Up 7.9 %

NASDAQ:NVMI opened at $206.37 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $5.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.47. The company’s 50-day moving average is $198.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $207.60. Nova has a 12-month low of $100.17 and a 12-month high of $247.21.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The semiconductor company reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.43. The company had revenue of $156.86 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $148.12 million. Nova had a net margin of 27.38% and a return on equity of 20.76%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 27.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.97 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Nova will post 5.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in shares of Nova by 231.2% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 31,083 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $5,514,000 after acquiring an additional 21,699 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Nova by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 987,071 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $175,087,000 after purchasing an additional 14,115 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Nova during the 1st quarter worth approximately $2,589,000. Sei Investments Co. increased its position in Nova by 12.7% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 128,423 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $22,780,000 after purchasing an additional 14,508 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP acquired a new stake in Nova during the 1st quarter worth approximately $38,661,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.99% of the company’s stock.

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.