Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the seven brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $246.67.

NVMI has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup raised shares of Nova from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $226.00 to $240.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Benchmark boosted their price target on shares of Nova from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Nova in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on shares of Nova in a report on Monday, January 13th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $275.00 price target for the company.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nova

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of NVMI. Wasatch Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Nova by 49.3% during the fourth quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 2,411,677 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $474,980,000 after buying an additional 796,629 shares in the last quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Nova by 74.6% during the third quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd now owns 1,281,869 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $267,487,000 after buying an additional 547,833 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Nova by 115.1% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 661,282 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $146,515,000 after purchasing an additional 353,906 shares during the period. Polar Capital Holdings Plc grew its holdings in shares of Nova by 504.5% in the fourth quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc now owns 354,302 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $69,780,000 after purchasing an additional 295,691 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of Nova by 33.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 600,868 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $118,341,000 after purchasing an additional 150,000 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.99% of the company’s stock.

Nova Price Performance

NVMI opened at $226.02 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $238.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $211.52. Nova has a 1 year low of $158.00 and a 1 year high of $289.90. The stock has a market cap of $6.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.46.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The semiconductor company reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.82 by ($0.04). Nova had a net margin of 27.33% and a return on equity of 22.33%. The firm had revenue of $194.77 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $186.50 million. Equities analysts expect that Nova will post 7.52 EPS for the current 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.