Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Lowers Holdings in Novanta Inc. (NASDAQ:NOVT)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lowered its position in shares of Novanta Inc. (NASDAQ:NOVT) by 1.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 10,200 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 100 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Novanta were worth $1,664,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its holdings in Novanta by 12.1% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 743 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $130,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Novanta by 67.5% during the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 211 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of Novanta by 1.7% in the first quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 5,876 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,027,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its position in shares of Novanta by 0.3% in the first quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 44,969 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $7,859,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Novanta by 12.6% in the 2nd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,180 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $192,000 after buying an additional 132 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.35% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Novanta

In related news, CEO Matthijs Glastra sold 1,086 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.84, for a total transaction of $174,672.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 23,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,777,488.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Matthijs Glastra sold 1,086 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.84, for a total value of $174,672.24. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 23,486 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,777,488.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Thomas N. Secor sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.60, for a total value of $158,600.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 928 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $147,180.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 11,684 shares of company stock worth $1,978,901 in the last three months. Company insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Novanta from $170.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th.

Novanta Price Performance

NASDAQ:NOVT opened at $183.54 on Friday. Novanta Inc. has a 12-month low of $111.20 and a 12-month high of $187.12. The firm has a market cap of $6.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 95.10 and a beta of 1.31. The company’s 50-day moving average is $171.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $166.96. The company has a current ratio of 2.83, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75.

Novanta (NASDAQ:NOVT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The technology company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $235.86 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $233.63 million. Novanta had a return on equity of 16.58% and a net margin of 7.76%. Novanta’s revenue was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.80 EPS. Research analysts expect that Novanta Inc. will post 3.26 EPS for the current year.

About Novanta

Novanta Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides precision medicine and manufacturing, medical solutions, and robotics and automation solutions in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Precision Medicine and Manufacturing, Medical Solutions, and Robotics and Automation.