Cetera Investment Advisers Acquires 2,486 Shares of Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI)

Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in shares of Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) by 70.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,018 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,486 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers’ holdings in Nova were worth $1,411,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Nova by 7.2% during the 2nd quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 1,195,985 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $280,494,000 after purchasing an additional 80,500 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Nova by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 987,071 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $175,087,000 after buying an additional 14,115 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Nova by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 803,025 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $142,408,000 after buying an additional 23,668 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in Nova by 45.2% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 645,203 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $151,319,000 after purchasing an additional 200,816 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meitav Investment House Ltd. raised its position in Nova by 28.1% in the second quarter. Meitav Investment House Ltd. now owns 556,839 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $130,258,000 after purchasing an additional 122,218 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.99% of the company’s stock.

Nova Stock Performance

Shares of Nova stock opened at $198.74 on Wednesday. Nova Ltd. has a 52 week low of $90.59 and a 52 week high of $247.21. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $210.81 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $206.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.77 billion, a PE ratio of 45.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 1.46.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The semiconductor company reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.43. Nova had a return on equity of 20.76% and a net margin of 27.38%. The business had revenue of $156.86 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $148.12 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.97 earnings per share. Nova’s quarterly revenue was up 27.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Nova Ltd. will post 5.63 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup cut Nova from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $273.00 to $224.00 in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Benchmark raised their target price on Nova from $215.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $226.80.

About Nova

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.