Quantbot Technologies LP Purchases 1,325 Shares of Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI)

Quantbot Technologies LP lifted its position in Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ:NVMI) by 12.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 11,650 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,325 shares during the quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP’s holdings in Nova were worth $2,066,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Nova by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 1,070,485 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $147,074,000 after buying an additional 33,800 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Nova by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 972,956 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $133,674,000 after buying an additional 13,891 shares during the last quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Nova by 74.9% in the 4th quarter. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd now owns 604,977 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $83,202,000 after buying an additional 259,021 shares during the last quarter. Meitav Investment House Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Nova by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Meitav Investment House Ltd. now owns 434,621 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $76,590,000 after buying an additional 11,842 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Nova by 19.8% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 317,133 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $35,658,000 after buying an additional 52,460 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on NVMI. Benchmark upped their price objective on shares of Nova from $187.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 10th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Nova from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 10th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Nova in a report on Monday, May 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $240.00 price objective on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Nova in a report on Friday, May 10th. Finally, Evercore ISI began coverage on shares of Nova in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $210.00 price objective on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $221.25.

Nova Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of Nova stock traded up $4.18 on Friday, reaching $235.92. The stock had a trading volume of 133,740 shares, compared to its average volume of 170,532. Nova Ltd. has a 1 year low of $90.59 and a 1 year high of $247.21. The company has a market cap of $6.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 1.47. The business’s 50 day moving average is $219.75 and its two-hundred day moving average is $181.25.

Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The semiconductor company reported $1.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.29. Nova had a net margin of 26.26% and a return on equity of 19.89%. The firm had revenue of $141.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $136.78 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.12 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Nova Ltd. will post 4.79 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.