HighTower Advisors LLC Cuts Stake in Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI)

HighTower Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) by 8.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 10,740 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after selling 1,034 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Nova were worth $2,115,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Quarry LP raised its stake in Nova by 438.5% during the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 140 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 114 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Nova by 89.7% during the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 165 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its position in shares of Nova by 24.1% in the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 401 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $79,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the period. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Nova in the 4th quarter worth $112,000. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Nova by 79.6% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,182 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $233,000 after purchasing an additional 524 shares in the last quarter. 82.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Nova Trading Down 2.1 %

NVMI opened at $196.76 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $238.47 and a 200-day moving average price of $210.63. Nova Ltd. has a 12 month low of $158.00 and a 12 month high of $289.90. The firm has a market cap of $5.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.28, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.46.

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