Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) Shares Sold by US Bancorp DE

US Bancorp DE lowered its stake in shares of Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) by 27.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,082 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 406 shares during the quarter. US Bancorp DE’s holdings in Nova were worth $213,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd boosted its stake in Nova by 74.6% in the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in Nova by 115.1% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 661,282 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $146,515,000 after buying an additional 353,906 shares during the last quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. boosted its stake in Nova by 7.6% in the 4th quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 1,370,985 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $270,015,000 after buying an additional 97,000 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new stake in Nova in the 3rd quarter worth about $19,659,000. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its stake in Nova by 121.9% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 145,100 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $30,230,000 after buying an additional 79,700 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on NVMI shares. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Nova in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Citigroup raised Nova from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $226.00 to $240.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price objective on Nova from $315.00 to $300.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Finally, Benchmark lifted their price objective on Nova from $245.00 to $295.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $250.83.

Nova Price Performance

NASDAQ NVMI opened at $219.13 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.46. Nova Ltd. has a 1-year low of $158.00 and a 1-year high of $289.90. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $240.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $211.27.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The semiconductor company reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.82 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $194.77 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $186.50 million. Nova had a net margin of 27.33% and a return on equity of 22.33%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Nova Ltd. will post 7.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Nova 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.