Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Buys Shares of 23,215 Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI)

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund acquired a new stake in shares of Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 23,215 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,190,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Nova by 8.1% during the fourth quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC now owns 71,770 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $9,860,000 after buying an additional 5,370 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG grew its holdings in shares of Nova by 20.9% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 52,423 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $7,202,000 after purchasing an additional 9,058 shares during the last quarter. State of Tennessee Treasury Department grew its holdings in shares of Nova by 17.2% during the fourth quarter. State of Tennessee Treasury Department now owns 82,443 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $11,327,000 after purchasing an additional 12,120 shares during the last quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Nova by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 1,070,485 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $147,074,000 after acquiring an additional 33,800 shares during the period. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. lifted its stake in shares of Nova by 2.1% during the third quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 1,312,919 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $147,625,000 after acquiring an additional 27,050 shares during the period. 82.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Nova Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NVMI opened at $239.09 on Tuesday. Nova Ltd. has a 1 year low of $90.59 and a 1 year high of $242.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.09, a P/E/G ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $195.08 and a 200-day moving average price of $167.89.

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